Sturga-8' 

1862-  li£e 

The   church    9 


THE    CHURCH'S    LIFE 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  FUNDAMENTALS  OF 
THE  CHURCH'S  MISSION 

BY 

WM.  C.  STURGIS,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 


NEW  YORK 
DOMESTIC   AND  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

281   FOURTH  AVENUE 
1920 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  the  outcome  of  dire  need  on 
my  part.  When,  in  191 7,  I  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  Educational  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  and  began  work  as  such,  a  very  seri- 
ous difficulty  at  once  presented  itself.  Al- 
though a  lifelong  Churchman,  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  for  nearly  ten  years, 
and  a  leader  of  men's  Bible  classes  for  thirty, 
I  had  only  the  most  rudimentary  idea  of  what 
the  Church  exists  for,  what  the  word  "mis- 
sions" means,  and  what  is  the  teaching  of  the 
Scriptures  on  this  subject.  It  was  quite  obvi- 
ous that  if,  as  was  necessary,  I  was  at  once 
to  begin  trying  to  make  these  matters  clear  to 
others,  I  must  first  clarify  my  own  mind.  For 
four  months,  sleeping  and  waking,  I  thought 
of  little  else;  and  then  I  became  bold  enough 
to  prepare  notes  and  to  lead  a  Summer  con- 
ference class  on  'The  Fundamentals  of  the 
Church's  Mission."  Whether  my  students  re- 
ceived anything  of  value  is  of  little  importance. 
I  did.  For  three  successive  years  I  gave  the 
same  course,  always  once,  sometimes  twice, 
constantly  expanding  it  under  the  stimulus  of 
the  Holy  Spirit's  teaching,  and  the  invaluable 
experience  of  being  obliged  to  think  logically 
and  to  express  myself  clearly.    The  attempt  to 


Preface 

convince  others  is  the  only  way  to  become  con- 
vinced oneself;  teaching  is  the  only  road  to 
learning;  one  makes  the  best  advance  in  com- 
pany. By  this  process  my  brief  notes  gradu- 
ally became  sufficiently  copious  to  form  the 
basis  of  a  volume;  and  as  there  seemed  to  be 
a  need  for  such  a  book — judging  at  least  by 
my  own  abysmal  ignorance  when  I  began — it 
seemed  advisable  to  place  them  in  that  form, 
as  a  textbook  for  a  study  of  the  Church's  mis- 
sion in  the  world. 

The  book,  I  think,  contains  nothing  new. 
Indeed  he  would  be  venturesome  who  dared 
imagine  that  he  had  discovered  anything  new 
upon  this  well-worn  topic.  Still,  the  point  of 
view  may,  in  some  cases,  be  found  to  differ 
from  that  commonly  occupied.  I  do  not,  for 
example,  remember  having  seen  in  any  book 
a  statement  of  the  objective  of  the  Church's 
mission  as  being  the  transmission  of  life  from 
those  who  have  it  to  those  who  have  it  not. 
Certainly  "missions,"  as  commonly  defined,  fall 
far  short  of  this,  and  hence  do  not  appeal  to 
the  average  layman. 

The  reader  at  all  acquainted  with  the  subject 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  tracing  my  constant 
indebtedness  to  certain  notable  books,  espe- 
cially Dr.  McLean's,  Where  the  Book  Speaks; 
Dr.  Lawrence's,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Foreign  Missions;  and  Bishop  Gore's,  The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

New  York,  August,  1920. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     The  Failure  of  a  Nation.        .  i 

II.     A  Chosen  Generation        ...  25 

III.  Life  More  Abundantly      ...  53 

The  Church  and  Physical  Well- 
being     64 

The  Church  and  Education        .  71 

IV.  The  Model  Missionary      ...  81 
V.     The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church  no 


VI.     The  Call  to  Intelligence 
VII.     The  Power  in  the  Church 


135 
168 


THE  CHURCH'S  LIFE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FAILURE  OF  A  NATION 

However  much  there  may  be  which  the 
average  layman  can  neither  understand  nor 
explain  in  religion — whether  natural  or  re- 
vealed— one  thing  seems  fairly  obvious,  i.  e., 
that  the  whole  story  of  both  nature  and  revela- 
tion is,  to  any  man  who  looks  about  him  and 
reads  his  Bible,  a  record  of  God's  eager  desire 
to  make  Himself  known  to  man  and  to  make 
man  able  to  learn  at  least  something  about 
God. 

Undoubtedly  there  are  men — often  even 
students  of  science — who  are  so  inexpressibly 
dull  or  so  hopelessly  immersed  in  things  which 
they  can  see  and  taste  and  smell,  and  which 
therefore  they  take  to  be  real,  that  they  can 
look  up  at  the  sky  on  a  clear  night  of  stars,  or 
feel  the  out-poured  vigor  of  the  sun,  or  catch 
the  odor  of  flowers  fresh  blown,  or  watch  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  life  in  a  microscopic  cell,  with- 
out a  thought  of  the  Power  hidden  behind  the 

1 


The  Church's  Life 

mere  things  seen.  But  I  imagine  that  the 
majority  of  men,  on  the  rare  occasions  when 
they  really  think,  get,  from  the  varied  aspects 
of  nature,  some  inkling  of  law  and  order  and 
beauty,  and  have  occasional  fleeting  impres- 
sions that,  hidden  away  behind  material  things, 
there  is  something  spiritual  which  is  trying 
with  all  its  might  to  get  a  message  across  to 
them.  Many  go  so  far  as  to  think  of  this 
"some  thing"  as  "some  One."  The  impression 
is  vague  and  momentary ;  it  doesn't  amount  to 
much  and  it  isn't  of  much  use.  But  it  repre- 
sents a  distinct  effort  on  God's  part,  and  it 
would  have  a  measure  of  success— has  had,  in- 
deed, in  rare  instances,  marked  success — if 
only  the  man  would  not  immediately  proceed  to 
hide  himself  from  God's  search  in  a  fog  of  in- 
difference or  laziness,  on  the  ground  that,  after 
all,  we  are  "men  in  a  world  of  men,"  that  the 
daily  struggle  for  subsistence  is  quite  enough 
to  engage  all  the  faculties  of  a  normal  man,  and 
that  the  bridge  to  any  other  life  is  to  be  crossed 
when  we  get  there.  The  truth  is  that  Natural 
Religion,  as  a  revelation  of  God,  may  make  its 
appeal  to  some  men  all  the  time  and  to  all  men 
some  time,  but,  as  an  adequate  expression  of 
God's  passionate  desire  to  convey  to  man  a  mes- 
sage concerning  Himself,  it  has  proved  a  fail- 
ure. 

What  is  there  left  to  be  tried?  What  other 
means  are  possible  ?  If  the  heavens  themselves 
fail  to  declare  to  men  the  glory  of  God;  if  men 

2 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

decline  to  see,  in  the  ordered  course  of  the 
firmament,  any  evidence  of  His  handiwork;  if 
sunshine  and  rain,  the  ordered  seasons,  the 
majesty  of  the  sea,  the  infinite  accuracy  of 
created  adjustments,  give  to  the  average  man 
no  thought  of  the  wisdom  and  power  and  good- 
ness of  God,  how  can  God  make  Himself 
known?  What  avenue  of  approach  can  there 
possibly  be  between  pure  spirit  and  that  seem- 
ingly indissoluble  mixture  of  spirit  and  flesh 
which  we  know  as  Man?  How  can  man, 
whether  evolved  from  the  beast  or  recovering 
from  a  lapse  into  beast-hood,  rise  to  a  point 
where  he  can  see  God  for  himself  as  not  a 
stranger? 

Faced  by  this  dilemma  God  brought  to  light 
the  greatest  discovery  of  all  time — that  He 
could  and  must  use  man  as  the  means  for 
making  Himself  known  to  all  mankind;  in 
other  words,  that  He  must  find  some  human 
being  to  whom  He  could  reveal  Himself,  and 
who,  in  turn,  could  pass  the  knowledge  on  to 
others.  The  man  so  chosen  must  evidently 
possess  two  qualifications — first,  he  must  have 
some  unique  spiritual  capacity  for  receiving 
God;  secondly,  he  must  value  the  revelation  so 
highly  as  to  make  it  his  business  to  tell  others. 

In  the  very  early  dawn  of  history  such  a 
man  appears.  Before  Abraham's  time,  there 
appear  to  have  been  individual  cases  of  men 
to  whom  God  was  able  to  make  Himself  known 
in  some  measure.    But  Abraham  was  the  first 

3 


The  Church's  Life 

who,  having  come  to  trust  God,  was  willing  to 
surrender  his  life,  and  to  leave  home  and  coun- 
try, "not  knowing  whither  he  went,"  in  order 
to  conserve,  for  the  benefit  of  his  race,  the 
knowledge  of  God  which  he  had  received.  He 
was  already  an  old  man,  judged  by  our  stand- 
ards; his  knowledge  of  God  was  fragmentary 
and  incomplete ;  he  probably  had  his  eyes  fixed 
quite  as  much  on  the  temporal  promises  made 
to  him  as  on  the  rather  vague  and  long- 
deferred  blessings  predicted  for  his  race;  he 
was  by  no  means  perfect  morally;  but  he  had 
the  one  thing  which  God  appears  to  deem  es- 
sential in  His  messengers — a  capacity  for  be- 
coming something  worth  while. 

Where  the  man  came  from  is  uncertain,  ex- 
cept that  it  was  somewhere  in  that  wide  region 
on  the  northern  confines  of  Babylonia  between 
the  rivers  Tigris  and  Euphrates  and  hence 
known  to  us  as  Mesopotamia.  What  his  ante- 
cedents were  we  know  only  from  a  list  of 
names.  But  one  fact  stands  out  prominently — 
he  had  received  and  cherished  a  true  concep- 
tion of  the  unity  and  personality  of  God. 
Amid  the  polytheism  and  idolatry  of  Babylonia 
and  Egypt,  this  was  a  unique  revelation.  It 
came  to  Abraham  with  an  intensely  personal 
meaning,  so  much  so  that  later  God,  through 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  speaks  of  "Abraham,  my 
friend."  This  recognition  of  the  oneness  of 
God,  this  realization  of  God  as  a  personal, 
guiding,  trustworthy  Presence,  was  what  set 

4 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

Abraham  apart  from  all  who  had  preceded  him, 
from  his  contemporaries,  and  from  the  tribes 
of  Canaan  among  whom  he  eventually  settled. 
And  because  God  saw  in  Abraham  a  capacity 
for  conserving  this  first  successful  attempt  to 
reveal  His  essential  nature  to  a  man,  and  a 
further  ability  on  Abraham's  part  to  pass  on 
this  new-found  knowledge  to  "his  children  and 
his  household  after  him,,,  in  order  that  finally, 
through  Abraham's  descendants  holding  fast 
to  this  faith,  its  blessings  should  overflow  to 
"all  the  families  of  the  earth" — for  these  rea- 
sons God  determined  to  separate  this  first  mis- 
sionary of  His  from  the  contaminating  sur- 
roundings of  his  own  land  and  to  plant  him  in 
a  distant,  restricted  and  isolated  region  which, 
after  being  purged  of  its  idolatrous  inhabitants, 
might  become  for  Abraham  and  his  countless 
descendants  the  fruitful  seed-bed  for  further 
revelations,  culminating  in  a  complete  and  final 
revealing  of  Himself  which  should  be  man's 
salvation  to  all  eternity. 

It  was  a  plan  in  keeping  with  the  all-seeing 
wisdom  of  God;  but  its  success  depended  abso- 
lutely on  man's  cooperation.  For  God  to  reveal 
Himself  to  man  is  one  thing — and  always  pos- 
sible. For  God  to  force  man  to  pass  on  the 
revelation  to  some  one  else  is  quite  another 
thing — and  always  impossible  so  long  as  man 
retains  his  God-given  freedom  of  will.  So  it 
was  with  Abraham's  descendants.  Selected, 
isolated,  protected,  disciplined,  enlightened  by 

5 


The  Church's  Life 

God  Himself  in  order  that  they  might  become 
His  missionaries — the  bearers  of  His  messages 
to  the  outside  nations — the  Jewish  people  saw 
in  His  promises  merely  a  one-sided  compact  of 
which  they  were  the  beneficiaries,  and  in  His 
protection  only  the  flattering  evidence  that 
they  were  His  chosen  people  because  of  their 
"righteousness."  As  a  people  they  seem  to 
have  had  no  conception  of  the  fact  that  if  they 
were  really  a  nation  selected  out  of  all  the 
world,  they  had  been  so  selected  for  a  definite 
purpose  in  which  all  nations  were  included ;  or 
that  if  they  had  been  given  even  a  partial 
knowledge  of  God,  it  was  with  the  sole  object 
of  their  sharing  that  knowledge  with  the  whole 
world.  Their  attitude  of  mind  would  appear 
incredible  were  it  not  that  precisely  the  same 
mental  attitude  is  characteristic  of  the  Church 
today  as  represented  by  the  average  Christian. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  how  patiently  God  tried 
to  make  His  nature  more  and  more  clear  to 
this  peculiarly  dull-minded  people,  and  how 
wise  and  practical  were  His  methods.  First, 
selecting  one  man  in  the  person  of  Abraham, 
He  promised  him,  in  return  for  obedience  to 
th«  point  of  exile,  a  secure  foothold  on  earth 
and  a  multitude  of  descendants  compacted  into 
one  nation  which  should  be  a  blessing  to  the 
world.  Between  Abraham's  immediate  family 
He  made  a  selection,  rejecting  Hagar  and  her 
son  Ishmael  as  having  no  capacity  for  spiritual 
development  (a  selection  justified  in  the  Edo- 

6 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

mites  and  in  the  Midianites  and  the  nomadic 
Arabs  of  today),  and  choosing  Isaac  as  the 
vehicle  of  further  revelation.  Of  Isaac's  two 
sons  God  chose  one,  and  rejected  the  other, 
again  because  of  the  fact,  justified  in  the 
events,  that  Esau  was  distinctly  commonplace 
and  fit  only  to  breed  an  earthy,  unprogressive 
race;  while  Jacob,  with  all  his  glaring  faults, 
did  value  spiritual  things  above  material,  and 
was  fit  to  breed  a  race  of  God-servers.  The 
revelation  to  Isaac  is  not  on  a  much  higher 
level  than  it  had  been  to  his  father,  neverthe- 
less so  evident  was  it  that  he  stood  in  a  peculiar 
relation  with  God  that  even  the  Philistine 
chief,  Abimelech,  thought  it  the  part  of  wisdom 
to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  one  with  whom 
God  was  plainly  on  friendly  terms. 

With  Jacob  the  revelation  proceeds  apace. 
The  promises  heard  by  him  at  Bethel  are,  it  is 
true,  still  distinctly  material;  but  the  impres- 
sion made  upon  him  in  this  vivid  experience  of 
God's  presence,  as  also  later  at  the  ford  of 
Jabbok,  wras  a  profound  and  lasting  one,  full 
of  mysterious  meaning  but  none  the  less  real 
for  that.  To  Jacob  such  an  experience  as  the 
dream  of  a  possible  approach  between  heaven 
and  earth — between  God  and  man — through 
man — was  a  vision  of  what  he — his  people — the 
world — might  attain  to  through  obedience  to 
a  divine  friend.  To  Esau  such  an  experience 
would  have  been  merely  a  nightmare  brought 
on  by  over-indulgence  in  bean-pottage. 

7 


The  Church's  Life 

In  Jacob's  large  family  of  sons,  some  bet- 
ter, some  worse,  appears  the  first  evidence  of 
the  fulfillment  of  God's  promise  to  make  of 
Abraham's  descendants  a  great  nation,  in  num- 
bers like  the  stars  of  heaven  or  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  mighty  and  numerous  in  order  to  be 
a  spiritual  force  among  the  less  developed  peo- 
ples of  the  world.  How  these  sons  stand  re- 
vealed in  Jacob's  final  words  to  them!  Insta- 
bility, ungoverned  passions,  materialism,  sloth, 
falsity — such  are  the  characteristics  appearing 
in  this  extraordinary  family.  But  among  the 
twelve,  two  are  found  worthy  of  carrying  on 
the  destiny  of  the  race  of  Israel.  Through  the 
obscure  blessing  pronounced  on  Judah — the 
lawgiver,  the  object  of  praise,  the  masterful — 
shine  flashes  of  prophetic  vision  pointing  to  a 
far-ofl  time  when  the  nations  shall  be  united 
in  obedience  to  one  divine  authority.  In  the 
outpouring  of  blessings  upon  Joseph  appear  the 
compensating  rewards  attending  persecution 
and  suffering  borne  steadfastly  for  the  truth's 
sake. 

Both  Judah  and  Joseph  are  men  of  force  and 
vision,  but  it  is  Judah  alone  who  is  worthy  to 
plant  the  stock  from  which,  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  should  spring  the  supreme  and  ultimate 
Revealer  and  Messenger  of  God. 

Such  was  God's  plan — such  the  foundations 
on  which  He  built  His  vast  design  of  a  world- 
wide revelation  of  Himself  to  man  through  the 
obedience,  first  of  an  individual,  then  of  a  na- 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

tion  selected  and  commissioned — His  "chosen 
people/'  Israel.  To  no  race  of  men  had  ever 
been  given  so  vast  an  opportunity;  no  nation 
had  ever  been  so  trained  for  an  exalted  mission 
in  the  fulfillment  of  God's  world-wide  plan. 
Yet  never  has  there  been  in  all  history  so  tragic 
a  failure.  The  very  means  which  God  took  to 
make  Himself  known  to  the  Jewish  people  be- 
came the  rock  on  which  they  foundered.  His 
almighty  power  revealed  in  awful  majesty  on 
Sinai  was  interpreted  in  terms  of  protection 
for  themselves  and  destruction  for  their  en- 
emies. This  universal  love,  of  which  they  were 
given  countless  evidences,  was,  in  their  minds, 
narrowed  and  confined  lest  it  might  touch 
others  than  themselves.  His  very  presence,  re- 
vealed to  them  in  glory,  was  localized ;  and  the 
Creator  of  the  universe,  the  Lover  of  all  man- 
kind, was  moulded  into  the  measure  of  a  tribal 
god  inclosed  within  the  material  walls  of  taber- 
nacle and  temple  to  be  worshipped  and  honored 
by  formal  sacrifice  and  legal  obedience,  and 
only  then  so  long  as  He  proved  considerate  of 
their  personal  well-being  and  friendly  to  their 
national  aims.  And  surely  this  was  not  the 
fault  of  God.  By  a  great  deliverance  He  had 
freed  them  from  bondage;  but  for  what  pur- 
pose? With  food  from  heaven  He  had  fed 
them  in  their  wanderings,  and  brought  them 
into  the  land  promised  to  their  forbears  and 
had  given  them  national  greatness;  but  to 
what  end?    In  His  love  and  wisdom  He  sent 


The  Church's  Life 

them  messengers — poets,  prophets,  teachers. 
Through  these  He  warned,  appealed,  besought, 
and  threatened.  But  what  was  the  meaning  of 
it  all?  It  must  be  confessed  that  such  ques- 
tions had  no  interest  for  them,  except  as  they 
could  be  answered  in  terms  of  personal  or 
national  blessing.  Childishly  self-complacent, 
arrogantly  provincial,  they  turned  deaf  ears 
and  blind  eyes  to  the  appeals  and  example  of 
God's  messengers  and,  refusing  to  see  that 
they  had  been  chosen,  saved  and  given  power 
solely  in  order  to  fulfill  the  mission  of  making 
God  known  to  all  the  world,  they  precipitated 
the  very  disasters  from  which  they  trusted 
their  God  to  deliver  them.  Time  and  again, 
with  unwearying  patience,  God  showed  the 
Jews  the  inevitable  consequences  of  their  crim- 
inal blindness  and  narrowrness,  until  at  last 
with  two  mighty  strokes  He  drove  them  out 
of  their  seclusion  and  dispersed  them,  agonized 
and  despairing,  among  their  hated  enemies  of 
Assyria  (B.  C.  722)  and  Babylonia  (B.  C. 
586). 

For  a  century  and  a  half  the  Jews  remained 
in  exile.  Meantime  Jerusalem  had  been  de- 
stroyed, and  its  walls  levelled ;  the  Temple  had 
been  burned.  Thus  not  only  was  the  center  of 
Jewish  worship  laid  waste,  and  Jewish  nation- 
ality destroyed,  but  their  reliance  upon  God  as 
their  peculiar  protector  and  deliverer  had 
proved  false.  Sad  and  tragic  as  the  Babylo- 
nian captivity  was,  it  seems  to  have  been  the 

10 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

only  means  by  which  God  could  make  any  im- 
pression upon  the  hardened  exclusiveness  in 
which  the  Jews  had  encased  themselves.  In 
one  way  it  worked  well.  They  of  the  captivity 
did  come  to  look  with  loathing  upon  the  religion 
of  their  captors,  and  they  returned  to  Palestine 
in  a  chastened  spirit,  holding  fast  the  concep- 
tion of  the  unity  of  God,  and  thereby  made  fit 
to  serve  once  more  as  the  vehicle  of  God's 
further  revelation  of  Himself  to  all  the  world. 
Once  more  the  phrase,  "Hear,  O  Israel,  the 
Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord,"  became  the  char- 
acteristic expression  of  Jewish  faith;  once 
more  Israel  saw  itself  as  the  servant  and 
messenger  of  the  Most  High. 

The  nation  returned  to  its  Holy  Land  to  find 
the  latter  a  shrunken  territory  indeed.  Galilee 
— the  ancient  kingdom  of  Israel — had  become 
largely  a  Gentile  colony ;  Samaria  to  the  south 
was  found  to  have  been  occupied  by  a  mixed 
race  of  Jews  and  Assyrian  colonists  who  won 
the  bitter  hatred  of  the  orthodox  by  imitating, 
in  debased  forms,  the  ancient  religion  of  Juda- 
ism, and  by  actually  building  a  rival  temple  of 
their  own  on  Mount  Gerizim.  To  the  return- 
ing Jews  remained  only  the  restricted  area  of 
Judaea ;  and  here,  with  devout  and  concen- 
trated energy,  they  set  about  restoring  their 
former  capitol,  rebuilding  the  sacred  Temple, 
and  again  enforcing  the  rediscovered  Law.  It 
was  as  though  God  had,  with  undiscouraged 
patience,  again  implanted  in  the  minds  of  this 

11 


The  Church's  Life 

recalcitrant  people  the  fundamental  truth  about 
Himself,  and  had  determined  to  give  them  one 
more  chance  to  make  that  truth  known  to  a 
waiting  world. 

But  history  repeated  itself.  Once  more  the 
Jew  gradually  returned  to  his  tribal  conception 
of  God,  deliberately  scorning  his  God-given 
mission.  The  history  of  the  centuries  inter- 
posed between  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament 
record  and  the  beginning  of  the  New  is  a  dim 
and  confused  story  of  futile  struggles  for 
Jewish  independence  and  nationality,  of  selfish 
withdrawals  into  themselves,  of  deepening 
scorn  for  their  neighbors,  of  steadily  increas- 
ing religious  formality  and  legalism.  The 
average  Jew  of  that  time  could,  no  more  than 
the  average  Churchman  of  today,  see  the  hand 
of  God  in  his  training,  or  hear  the  voice  of  God 
in  his  mission,  or  realize  the  inevitable  result 
of  his  self-centered  religion.  The  Jew,  refus- 
ing to  be  set  free  in  order  to  bear  a  message, 
slowly  became  forced  into  physical  and  mental 
bondage.  Slowly  but  inexorably  the  bonds  of 
foreign  domination  tightened  about  him  until, 
at  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era,  we  find  him 
the  despised  subject  of  Rome,  yet  willfully  un- 
conscious of  his  bondage  and  of  the  tragic  fact 
that  the  glorious  opportunity  which  was  once 
his  had  passed  from  his  grasp  forever.* 


*  See,  in  this  connection,  an  admirable  article  by  P.  F. 
Underhill,  entitled  "On  the  'Failure  of  the  Church',"  in  The 
Holy  Cross  Magazine  for  June,  1920. 

12 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

Here  it  would  be  well  to  pause  for  a  moment 
and  consider  the  question  whether  what  we 
have  been  assuming  as  a  fact  is  really  so. 
Was  God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  the  Jews 
ever  meant  to  be  universal  ?  Did  He  really  in- 
tend them  to  carry  His  message  into  all  the 
world?  Was  it  in  order  to  assure  them  of  His 
favor  and  goodness  toward  them  that  He  gave 
them  the  knowledge  of  Himself,  or  was  it  in 
order  that  they  might  be  His  means  of  bless- 
ing all  the  nations  of  the  earth?  In  a  word, 
Does  God  believe  in  foreign  missions,  or  not? 
This  is  rather  a  crucial  question  because,  if  He 
does,  there  are  many  Christians  today  who  do 
not  agree  with  Him.  Let  us  see,  then,  what  the 
great  men  of  the  Jewish  Church  thought  about 
this. 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  those 
prophecies  which  were  at  the  very  foundation 
of  that  one  family  which  God  selected  in  order 
to  accomplish  His  purpose  for  the  world.  To 
Abraham,  to  Isaac  and  to  Jacob  Jehovah 
promised  that  the  knowledge  of  God  which 
had  come  to  them  should,  through  them,  be  a 
blessing  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  (Cf. 
Gen.  12:1-3;  26:4;  28:14).  He  swears  by 
Himself  and  by  His  very  existence  that  the 
whole  earth  shall,  one  day,  be  filled  with  His 
glory  (Num.  14:21).  The  poets  of  Israel, 
having  in  mind  the  nature  of  God,  are  filled 
with  the  glorious  assurance  that  there  is  no 
other  possible  objective  in  God's  plan.    It  is  im- 

13 


The  Church's  Life 

possible  to  read  the  Psalms  *  without  realizing 
that,  to  the  minds  of  the  writers,  the  supremacy 
of  God,  over-ruling  the  evil  in  the  world,  over- 
throwing all  opposition  to  His  universal  will 
and  His  supreme  authority  throughout  the 
whole  world,  is  a  dominant  note;  and,  more- 
over, that  there  is  equally  present  to  their 
minds  the  fact  that  this  end  is  to  be  accom- 
plished primarily  through  a  realization,  on  the 
part  of  the  Jews  themselves,  that  the  mis- 
sionary responsibility  rests  upon  them,  and 
that  they  have,  indeed,  been  set  apart  for  that 
purpose,  through  the  fulfilling  of  which  alone 
they  can  confidently  expect  God's  mercy  and 
blessing.  "God  be  merciful  to  us  and  bless  us," 
they  cry;  but  only  "that  Thy  way  may  be 
known  upon  earth,  Thy  saving  health  among  all 
nations."  Perhaps  the  most  perfect  expression 
of  this  all-embracing  expectancy  is  to  be  found 
in  the  great  hymn  of  Asaph,  David's  choir- 
master, sung  at  the  bringing  up  of  the  ark,  and 
its  establishment  in  the  tabernacle  (i  Chron. 
16:8-36).  It  is  the  same  with  the  great  seers 
of  Israel.  What  they  see  most  clearly,  and 
what  they  passionately  long  to  make  the  people 
see,  is  that  Israel  is  intended  to  be  a  center  of 
light  for  all  mankind,  and  that  selfishly  to 
appropriate  that  light  or  carelessly  to  hide  it 
is  to  forfeit  all  claim  to  be  the  chosen  of  God. 
It  would  be  impossible  in  a  brief  space  to  re- 

*  See  especially  Psalms  2,  22   (latter  portion),  45,  46,  67, 
96,  97,  148. 

14 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

view  the  message  of  the  prophets,  but  through 
all  their  writings  sounds  the  eager,  dreadful 
cry  against  a  people  who  had  forsaken  right- 
eousness, scorned  alike  the  promises  and  the 
warnings  of  God,  and,  in  seeking  to  monop- 
olize the  grace  of  God,  had  blinded  themselves 
to  their  high  calling  as  a  missionary  people. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  sets  before  the 
people  the  moral  obligation  of  knowing  and 
keeping  God's  law.  Its  acceptance  will  inevi- 
tably result  in  the  outpouring  of  God's  blessing ; 
its  rejection  is,  as  inevitably,  the  source  of 
every  misfortune.  It  is  to  be  thought  about, 
talked  about,  written  up  in  their  houses,  above 
all  it  is  to  be  taught  to  the  children  so  as  never 
to  be  forgotten.  Religious  education  was  to 
play  a  supremely  important  part  in  the  family 
life  of  the  Jew — it  was  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
expressions  of  his  mission  (C/.#Deut.  6:4-15; 
11:18-21).  And  this  was  in  order  that  the 
active  righteousness  of  the  Jewish  people  might 
be  an  example  to  all  who  came  among  them. 
Solomon  builds  and  dedicates  a  temple  for 
Jehovah.  It  is  a  place  of  worship  primarily 
for  the  Jew,  but  not  alone  for  him.  To  it, 
Solomon  foresees,  many  will  be  attracted  from 
other  lands — strangers,  not  people  of  Israel; 
and  for  them  he  asks  of  God  that  when  these 
Gentiles  recognize  the  power  and  beauty  of 
God  as  set  forth  visibly  before  them,  He  will 
answer  their  prayers  as  He  answers  those  of 
His  own  people,  that  so  "all  the  peoples  of  the 

15 


The  Church's  Life 

earth  may  know  Thy  name  and  fear  Thee" 
( II  Chron.  6 132,  33 ) .  Long  afterwards  Isaiah, 
too,  sees  the  attractive  power  of  a  people 
among  whom  God  is  truly  worshipped.  To 
him,  as  to  Solomon,  the  Temple  is  the  natural 
gathering-place  for  strangers;  there  they  will 
be  accepted  with  their  prayers  and  offerings, 
"for  mine  house  shall  be  called  an  house  of 
prayer  for  all  peoples.  The  Lord  God  which  ' 
gathereth  the  outcasts  of  Israel  saith,  Yet 
will  I  gather  others  to  him,  beside  his  own 
they  are  gathered"  (Is.  56:7,  8). 

Undoubtedly  to  both  Solomon  and  Isaiah  the 
attractive  power  of  the  Temple  and  of  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  had  only  one  objective  so 
far  as  Gentiles  were  concerned.  They  were 
thereby  to  be  converted  and  brought  into  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel.  But,  after  all,  was 
not  this  ideal  perfectly  right  and  logical  at  the 
time  ?  To  the  Jews  alone  of  all  people  on  earth 
had  been  given  "the  oracles  of  God,"  they  alone 
were  the  chosen  of  God,  only  within  the  Jewish 
Church  was  there  safety  and  light  through  the 
knowledge  of  God.  To  convert.the  Gentiles  to 
Judaism  was  therefore  the  chief  function  of 
the  Jewish-  people,  and  this  Isaiah  says  can  be 
done  and  will  be  done  by  the  manifest  loyalty 
of  the  people  toward  God's  law  and  worship. 
To  this  he  urges  them,  not  for  themselves 
within  the  covenant,  but  for  the  sake  of  those 
outside.  It  was  God's  will  that  all  nations 
should  have  been  brought  to  His  Israel's  light, 

16 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

if  only,  alas,  she  had  kept  it  burning  (Is.  60: 
1-3).  This  is  the  attracting  power  of  loyalty 
to  God. 

But  that  loyalty  must  have  an  out-reaching 
expression  as  well.  Not  only  must  outsiders  be 
drawn  in  from  all  nations,  but  insiders  must  be 
sent  out  to  all  nations.  This  too  is  part  of  the 
message  of  the  prophets.  What  is  the  Book 
of  Jonah  but  a  parable  setting  forth  the  su- 
preme obligation  of  the  Jewish  people  toward 
the  heathen?  God's  plan  is  to  draw  all  men 
unto  Himself  to  be  united — Jew  and  Gentile 
alike — in  one  great  community  over  which  God 
Himself  is  King.  In  and  through  this  "new 
Israel"  shall  be  given  the  complete  and  final 
revelation  of  God.  Even  this  final  consumma- 
tion the  prophets  appear  to  see  dimly.  It  is  too 
small  a  task  for  the  coming  Messiah  merely  to 
raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob;  He  is  to  bring 
salvation  to  the  Gentiles  throughout  all  the 
world  (Is.  49:5,  6).  To  Him— the  "Root  of 
Jesus" — shall  all  nations  seek  (Is.  11:10). 
Through  Him  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  to  be 
revealed  to  all  flesh  (Is.  40:3-5). 

With  clear,  though  doubtless  contracted 
vision,  Micah  sees  the  day  when  God  will  be 
recognized  as  the  source  and  center  of  all  law 
and  light,  and  when  all  nations  shall  seek  Him 
(Micah  4:1-3).  To  Daniel  is  shown  a  vision 
of  the  time  when  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
and  all  human  sovereignty  shall  give  way  to 
the  everlasting  Kingdom  of  God  (Dan.  2:44). 

\7 


The  Church's  Life 

Through  Zephaniah,  the  Lord  speaks  His  ulti- 
mate purpose  of  bringing  the  peoples  of  the 
earth  to  serve  Him  in  unity  of  purpose  (Zeph. 
3:9).  Zechariah  pictures  Jehovah  as  a  man 
arousing  himself  in  order  to  bring  many  na- 
tions to  join  themselves  to  the  Lord  and  to 
rejoice  in  His  presence  (Zech.  2:10-13). 
Again  he  sees  Jehovah  as  King  over  all  the 
earth,  while  from  His  presence  flow  forth,  east 
and  west,  His  life-giving  waters  (Zech.  14: 
8,  9).  Finally,  Malachi  sees  the  "one  far-off 
divine  event''  as  already  present — the  ultimate 
purpose  of  God  already  fully  accomplished. 
"From  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the 
going  down  of  the  same  my  name  is  great 
among  the  Gentiles ;  and  in  every  place  incense 
and  a  pure  oblation  are  offered  unto  my  name : 
for  my  name  is  great  among  the  Gentiles,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts"  (Mai.  1:11). 

Such  is  the  trumpet-call  of  the  prophets  of 
Israel  sounding  in  the  dull  ears  of  their  people; 
by  such  appeals  do  they  strive  to  arouse  the 
Jewish  Church  from  its  self-complacency  and 
apathy.  Obedience — Loyalty — High  Example 
— Out-going  Activity — Zeal  for  God  and  His 
Church — these  are  the  notes  of  their  call. 
"Mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation,  which  thou 
hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  people; 
a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of 
thy  people  Israel."  So,  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
did  a  priest  of  God  sum  up  the  message  of  the 
prophets.     "A  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles"! 

18 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

Had  the  Jews  but  seen  the  determinate  will  and 
purpose  of  God,  what  glory  would  have  been 
theirs  today! 

Three  other  features  of  the  prophets'  mes- 
sage should  be  noted.  The  Jew  had  a  respon- 
sibility covering  not  only  Religious  Education 
and  World-wide  Evangelization,  but  toward 
Social  Service  as  well.  For  this  mission  he 
had  been  given  the  most  careful  preparation. 
His  code  of  moral  and  social  law,  his  rules  of 
hygiene,  were  perfect  so  far  as  they  went.  He 
had  been  taught  his  responsibility  toward  all 
others  of  his  own  race.  Nevertheless,  by  the 
time  of  the  prophets,  he  had  forgotten  many 
of  these  lessons.  As  in  our  own  social  system 
today,  pride  of  wealth  and  position,  oppression, 
greed,  injustice,  had  dulled  the  feeling  of 
brotherhood.  Against  these  sins  the  prophets 
fulminated.  Their  warnings  have  a  familiar 
sound  in  our  ears.  It  is  vain,  they  say,  to 
attempt  to  serve  God  acceptably  by  sacrifices 
and  offerings  and  worship,  when  all  the  time 
injustice  and  evil-doing  characterize  your  rela- 
tions toward  one  another.  The  sight  of  you 
among  the  nations,  so  far  from  winning  the 
Gentiles,  can  only  serve  to  repel  them  from 
you  and  from  your  God.  "Seek  judgment,  re- 
lieve the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead 
for  the  widow."  Only  so  can  your  scarlet  sins 
be  washed  out  clean  (Is.  1:16-18).  Again, 
"Make  thy  shadow  as  the  night  in  the  midst  of 
the  noonday"  (how  cool  that  sounds  in  a  torrid 

19 


The  Church's  Life 

climate !).  "Let  mine  outcasts  dwell  with  thee" 
(Is.  16:3, 4).  As  to  formal  observances,  surely 
self-discipline  and  self-sacrifice  are  not  ends 
in  themselves.  Rather  are  they  the  means 
which  enable  you  to  have  time  and  spirit  to 
check  oppression  and  to  break  evil  bonds; 
ability  and  desire  to  feed  hungry  people  and  to 
provide  poor  people  with  shelter  (Is.  58:5-7). 
It  is  Isaiah,  too,  who  sees  and  points  out  the 
merciful  character  of  the  longed-for  Messiah, 
which  if  the  people  will  only  show  forth  now 
they  shall  be  so  blessed  of  the  Lord  that  all 
nations  shall  take  notice  (Is.  61:1,  2;  8,  9). 
Indeed  the  mercy  and  righteousness  of  God, 
reflected  in  the  behavior  of  His  people  toward 
one  another,  is  not  for  them  alone;  for  all 
nations  await  the  reign  of  righteousness,  and 
the  servant  of  God  shall  not  fail  nor  be  dis- 
couraged until  justice  is  established  throughout 
the  world  (Is.  42:1-4).  Secondly,  we  should 
note  how  the  prophets  emphasize  personal  re- 
sponsibility in  the  discharge  of  the  world-wide 
mission.  Perhaps  the  most  solemn  of  all  their 
appeals  to  personal  service  is  voiced  by  Ezekiel. 
The  watchman  on  the  walls  has  an  individual 
responsibility;  in  sounding  the  warning  of  the 
enemy's  approach  he  discharges  that  respon- 
sibility. So  when  God  warns  the  wicked, 
through  His  watchman,  and  His  watchman  is 
quick  to  give  the  warning,  he  has  performed 
his  duty;  but  if  he  fails,  he  is  guilty  of  the 
death  of  the  wicked.    This  is  the  equal  justice 

20 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

of  God  (Ezek.  33).  Isaiah  enforces  the  duty 
of  personal  service  in  a  similar  way.  Jehovah 
has  set  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  His  city — 
they  are  the  "Lord's  remembrancers/'  to  bring 
the  things  of  the  Lord  to  the  minds  of  others. 
"Take  ye  no  rest,  and  give  him  no  rest,  till 
he  establish,  and  till  he  make  Jerusalem  a 
praise  in  the  earth. "  Righteousness  going 
forth  as  brightness,  and  salvation  as  a  lamp 
that  burnetii — this  is  the  objective  of  the 
Lord's  remembrancers,  for  they  have  seen  His 
righteousness ;  they  have  experienced  His  sal- 
vation (see  Is.  62:1-2,  6-7).  It  is  to  those 
who,  in  personal  service,  are  thus  faithful  to 
their  trust  that  Jehovah  promises  a  glory 
never  to  be  dimmed.  "They  that  teach  others 
shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firma- 
ment; and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever"  (Dan. 
12:3). 

Thirdly,  Ezekiel  saw  very  clearly  a  fact 
which  is  quite  as  evident  to  us  today.  At  the 
time  he  wrote,  the  Jews  had  become  widely 
scattered.  Ezekiel  himself,  while  still  a  young 
man,  had  witnessed  the  overthrow  of  the  King- 
dom of  Judah  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  had 
been  one  of  the  multitude  deported  to  Babylon 
where,  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  shared 
the  fortunes  of  the  Jewish  exiles.  As  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  colony  thus  placed  in  the 
midst  of  a  heathen  population,  he  had  abundant 
opportunity  to  note  how  inadequately  his  fel- 

21 


The  Church's  Life 

low-exiles  bore  witness  to  their  religion.  Had 
they  shown  faithfulness  to  their  God,  they 
would  have  proved  the  "leaven  to  leaven  the 
whole  lump"  of  Babylonian  idolatry  (Cf. 
Ezek.  36:23,  last  clause).  As  it  was,  however, 
they  had  proved  anything  but  faithful.  Indeed 
God's  judgment  against  them  is  that  they  had 
profaned  His  holy  name  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  Babylonians  themselves  scorned  them  for 
their  inconsistency  and  taunted  them  and  their 
God.  These,  they  mocked,  are  the  people 
of  the  mighty  Jehovah,  a  god  unable  even  to 
keep  them  in  His  own  land  (Ezek.  36:20, 
21).  Today  Christians  are  scattered  all  over 
the  known  world.  Colonies  of  baptized  busi- 
ness people  from  a  Christian  land  are  to  be 
found  in  every  great  center  of  heathendom. 
Are  they  faithful  in  worship  and  witness  ?  Are 
they  conscious  of  their  missionary  responsi- 
bility, or  do  they  not  rather  bring  scorn,  by  life 
and  example,  upon  their  religion,  "profaning 
the  holy  name  among  the  nations  whither  they 
went"?  No  man  on  earth  has  quite  the  mis- 
sionary opportunity  of  the  Christian  man  of 
affairs  in  a  heathen  country,  unless  it  be  the 
Christian  on  his  summer  holiday  in  rural  dis- 
tricts; yet  one  would  almost  say  that  by  none 
other  is  the  opportunity  more  fatally  neg- 
lected. One  can  only  fall  back  on  God's  as- 
surance through  Ezekiel  that,  notwithstanding 
the  disloyalty  of  His  own  people,  He  is  deter- 
mined to  sanctify  His  great  name  among  the 

22 


The  Failure  of  a  Nation 

nations,  and  make  them  know  that  He  is  the 
LORD. 

This,  then,  is  the  message  of  the  great  poets 
and  prophets  of  Israel.  God  revealed  Himself 
to  the  Jewish  people  not  for  their  own  sake, 
but  in  order  that,  through  them,  His  revela- 
tion might  be  made  known  to  all  nations.  By 
every  conceivable  means  He  tried  to  show  them 
the  glorious  opportunity.  Time  and  time 
again  He  showed  it  to  them,  but  as  often  as 
He  showed  it  so  often  did  they  turn  their  backs 
on  it. 

Then,  at  last,  when  His  plan  for  revealing 
Himself  to  man  had  been  thwarted  by  man's 
own  will,  God  put  forth  the  supreme  effort  of 
determined  love.  "For  us  men  and  for  our 
salvation,  He  came  down  from  heaven,  and 
was  incarnate  by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  was  made  man."  These  are  the 
words  in  which  you  and  I  express,  week  by 
week,  the  stupendous  fact.  That  any  wholly 
human  being  could  serve  as  the  revealer  of  God 
had  proved  a  vain  hope,  but  in  the  Son  of  God 
become  man,  the  divine  and  human  blend  in 
one.  In  His  divine  nature  Jesus  Christ  per- 
fectly apprehends  God  and  becomes  the  mirror 
of  God,  looking  into  which  we  see  God;  in  His 
human  nature  He  is  one  with  us,  and  adapts 
His  revelation  to  our  capacity  to  receive  it. 
Looking  upon  Him,  we  know  what  God  is  like. 
And  on  this  basis  God  formed  a  new  creation 
— a  race  of  twice-born  men,  possibly  as  dis- 

23 


The  Church's  Life 

tinct  from  and  as  far  above  ordinary  men  in 
the  scale  of  being  as  the  latter  are  distinct 
from  and  above  the  lower  creation.  The  mem- 
bers of  this  new  race  derive  their  life  directly 
from  Christ  the  Living  One;  from  them  God 
builds  up  His  Family,  His  Church.  He  loves 
to  call  them  His  "new  Israel,"  for  through 
them  He  plans  to  make  Himself  known  to  all 
men  everywhere.  To  them  He  entrusts  His 
message.  To  them  He  gives  a  mission.  "Go 
ye,"  said  the  Son  of  God,  "into  all  the  world, 
and  proclaim  the  good  news." 

God  has  done  His  part,  He  has  taken  the 
last  step  possible.  It  rests  with  us,  the  mem- 
bers of  His  Church,  as  to  whether  again  His 
plans  miscarry,  or  whether,  faithful  to  our 
trust,  we  carry  our  new  life  to  those  not  yet 
reborn,  whether  close  at  hand  or  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth. 


24 


CHAPTER  II 

A  CHOSEN  GENERATION 

Perhaps  enough  has  been  said  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  to  indicate  two  facts:  first,  that 
God  has  a  message  to  man  which  He  is  keenly 
interested  in  having  delivered;  and,  secondly, 
that,  failing  natural  means,  He  has  resorted 
to  human  agency.  The  message  is  no  less  than 
the  revelation  of  Himself.  His  plan  has  been 
to  reveal  Himself  first  to  one  carefully  selected 
man  of  spiritual  capacity  to  receive  the  revela- 
tion; then,  from  him,  to  build  up  a  people, 
chosen,  isolated,  disciplined,  instructed,  blessed; 
in  order  that,  through  them,  the  message  might 
be  carried  everywhere.  The  man  was  Abra- 
ham, the  people,  Israel,  God's  ancient  Church. 

The  plan  proved  successful  in  only  small 
measure.  Abraham  and  his  immediate  de- 
scendants— Isaac  and  Jacob — developed  great 
spiritual  capacity,  and  had  their  descendants 
shown  a  like  spirit,  there  is  no  knowing  how 
far  the  Jewish  people  might  have  progressed 
as  messengers  of  God  to  all  the  world.  Unfor- 
tunately the  spiritual  history  of  the  race  proved 
an  ever-darkening  sky  in  which  appear,  only 
here  and  there,  a  few  planets  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude.   Such  men  as  Joshua,  Samuel,  David, 

25 


The  Church's  Life 

Elijah,  a  few  of  the  kings,  all  of  the  great 
prophets — these  men  shine  out  as  brilliant 
examples  of  faithfulness.  But  on  the  whole  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  so  far  as  the  Jews, 
as  a  people,  were  concerned,  they  failed  to 
fulfill  the  purpose  for  which  God  had  set  them 
apart.  To  this  general  statement,  certain  ex- 
ceptions should  be  noted.  First,  the  Jew  early 
seized  upon  and  held  with  unshakable  tenacity 
the  conception  of  the  personality  and  unity  of 
God;  to  this  fact  he  testified  vigorously  and 
universally.  Secondly,  he  preserved  with  scru- 
pulous care  the  sacred  writings  of  his  seers, 
which  writings  have  come  down  to  us  as  an 
inestimably  precious  heritage.  For  these  two 
facts  the  world  owes  to  the  Jew  more  than  it 
can  ever  repay.  Thirdly — most  important  of 
all — there  did  develop  among  the  Jews  a  spir- 
itual capacity  which  God  could  seize  upon  for 
the  fulfillment  of  His  ultimate  purpose  in  the 
final  revelation  of  Himself  to  man.  The 
crowning  glory  of  the  Jewish  race,  as  it  is  the 
culmination  of  its  tragedy,  is  that  it  was  a 
people  worthy  to  bring  the  Christ  to  birth,  but 
unable  to  recognize  Him  when  He  appeared 
among  them. 

The  New  Testament  introduces  us  to  God's 
supreme  venture  of  love.  Again  He  chooses 
a  man,  but  now  it  is  the  incarnation  of  Himself, 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  To  Him 
He  entrusts  the  perfect  revelation  of  Himself; 
to  Him  He  gives  the  task  of  begetting  a  new 

26 


A  Chosen  Generation 

race — a  new  Israel — a  new  Church — built  up, 
not  as  before,  from  one  nation,  but  from  all 
nations  and  tongues,  Jew  and  Gentile,  rich  and 
poor,  with  no  distinctions  among  themselves, 
but  distinguished  from  all  others  by  their  son- 
ship  toward  God,  their  knowledge  of  Him,  and 
their  determination  to  make  that  knowledge 
world-wide.  So  the  Christian  Church  arises 
as  God's  messenger  like  the  Jewish  Church  of 
old,  but  having  this  supreme  advantage,  that 
she  is  born  of  One  divinely  human  and  humanly 
divine,  able  perfectly  to  receive  and  perfectly 
to  impart  the  complete  revelation  of  God,  and 
able  further  to  make  of  His  Church  a  trust- 
worthy witness,  proclaiming  God's  message  to 
all  men  everywhere,  and  thus  fulfilling  her 
mission.  Such  being  the  case,  the  mission  of 
the  Church — her  reason  for  existence — be- 
comes a  matter  of  very  serious  concern  to 
every  one  of  her  members.  For  surely  if  a 
message  from  God  to  man  is  of  any  value  at 
all,  it  is  the  one  thing  in  human  experience 
which  is  really  vital,  not  only  for  the  world  to 
come  but  for  this  world.  It  is  literally,  as  we 
shall  see  later,  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  The 
message  itself  is  supremely  worth  while,  there- 
fore it  is  equally  worth  while  to  consider  very 
carefully  what  that  message  is  and  what  it 
involves.  And  here  let  me  say  in  passing  that 
there  are  very  many  people  who,  though  they 
have  been  made  members  of  the  Church  by 
Baptism,  are  quite  unconscious  of  any  special 

27 


The  Church's  Life 

benefit  which  has  accrued  to  them  thereby  and 
naturally  therefore  feel  no  desire  or  obligation 
toward  others  in  regard  to  it.  Having  little 
in  the  way  of  faith  or  of  the  knowledge  of 
God,  which  is  of  any  real  use  to  themselves, 
why  should  they  want  to  pass  it  on?  With 
such  I  have  no  quarrel.  Their  religion — what 
there  is  of  it — is  merely  a  decoration,  a  super- 
fluity, it  involves  no  issues  to  themselves,  it 
entails  no  privilege  or  responsibility  toward 
others.  Why  should  it  ?  They  fail  to  see  that 
the  Church  has  a  mission,  they  are  "not  inter- 
ested in  missions" ;  therefore,  for  them,  any 
consideration  of  the  subject  is  dull  and  aimless. 
But  there  are  others  to  whom  God  is  real, 
religion  vital,  faith  uplifting.  These  have 
something  worth  sharing.  Yet,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  largely  through  lack  of  thought 
and  knowledge,  they  have  never  been  led  to  see 
the  enormous  significance  of  "missions."  They 
have  listened  to  "missionary"  addresses;  they 
have  been  periodically  stirred  to  give  some- 
thing— not  much — to  "missions";  they  have 
possibly  heard  of  The  Spirit  of  Missions;  but 
they  have  never  really  taken  in  the  fact  that 
the  Church's  mission  has  a  very  vital  relation 
to  themselves.  Their  attitude  is  like  that  of 
the  boy  at  one  of  our  Church  Schools.  His 
father,  visiting  the  school  on  a  certain  occa- 
sion, met  the  master  of  mathematics,  and  in 
the  course  of  conversation  remarked,  "My 
son,  I  believe,  took  algebra  with  you  last  year." 

28 


A  Chosen  Generation 

"Yes,"  replied  the  master  somewhat  quizzi- 
cally; "but  I  shouldn't  put  it  that  way.  He  was 
exposed  to  it,  but  he  never  took  it."  It  is  for 
such  persons  that  this  book  is  written.  They 
should  be  interested  and  active  in  the  Church's 
mission. 

I  say  "The  Church's  Mission"  rather  than 
"Missions."  And  this  because  the  latter  word, 
whatever  it  meant  a  hundred  years  ago,  has 
come  to  mean  to  the  average  layman  something 
far  smaller  than  the  cause  it  represents.  A 
palm  tree  and,  standing  under  it,  a  tall  indi- 
vidual in  black  coat,  white  tie  and  top  hat,  and, 
in  the  background,  a  crouching  cannibal — isn't 
this  the  picture  that  rises  before  the  mind  of 
the  average  man  upon  hearing  the  word  "Mis- 
sions"? Similarly  a  "missionary"  is  usually 
thought  of  as  a  peculiar  person  who  feels  called 
to  go  and  "preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen"; 
the  whole  conception  being  based  on  a  mis- 
understanding of  what  is  meant  by  "the  gos- 
pel," and  the  equally  mistaken  idea  that,  in 
order  to  see  a  "heathen,"  what  is  needed  is  a 
telescope,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  naked 
eye,  or  even  a  looking-glass  may  serve  the  pur- 
pose admirably.  Then,  too,  the  words  which 
suit  the  usual  mental  picture  of  "Missions," 
and  have  had  their  share  in  accentuating  a 
totally  inadequate  conception,  are  those  of  the 
familiar  "missionary"  hymn, 

"From   Greenland's   icy   mountains, 
From  India's  coral  strand, 
29 


The  Church's  Life 

Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 
Roll  down  their  golden  sand:" 

The  words  are  rightly  endeared  to  many  people, 
but  the  trouble  with  them  is  that  while  they 
mention  several  places  with  which  most  of  us 
have  no  conceivable  contact,  which  we  have 
never  seen  and  never  expect  to  see,  they  say 
nothing  of  New  York  or  Omaha  or  San  Fran- 
cisco or  any  other  place  where  you  and  I  live, 
and  where,  therefore,  you  and  I,  as  members 
of  a  Church  with  a  mission,  have  a  message 
to  give. 

The  word  "Missions"  also  gives  the  unfor- 
tunate impression  that  there  are  all  kinds  of 
missions,  and  therefore  all  sorts  of  messages. 
Consequently  the  average  layman  has  come  to 
speak  of  "foreign  missions'*  and  "domestic 
missions"  and  "diocesan  missions"  and  "paro- 
chial missions" ;  and,  worse  still,  he  even  picks 
and  chooses  among  these,  and  states,  some- 
times, as  though  he  were  perfectly  reasonable, 
that  he  believes  in  one  kind  but  not  in  another. 
Of  course  this  is  stupid,  and  could  have  been 
largely  avoided  if  only  we  Churchmen  had  all 
been  taught,  from  childhood  up,  that  the  one 
Church  has  one  mission,  which  is  to  carry  a 
message  received  from  God  and  to  deliver  it 
to  every  man,  woman  and  child  within  reach — 
to  John  Smith  around  the  corner  in  my  town, 
quite  as  much  as  to  John  Chinaman  in  Hankow, 
and  vice  versa. 

Of  course  it  may  be  said  in  reply  to  this, 
30 


A  Chosen  Generation 

that  we  have  come  to  use  the  words  "missions" 
and  "missionaries"  in  a  special  sense  just  as 
we  speak  of  the  sun's  "rising"  and  "setting," 
though  we  know  perfectly  well  that  the  sun 
does  nothing  of  the  kind.  But  the  two  cases 
are  not  parallel.  It  makes  no  practical  differ- 
ence to  us  whether  the  sun  rises  in  the  morning 
or  whether  the  earth  turns  round  to  meet  it; 
we  wake  up  and  go  to  work  just  the  same.  But 
when  we  speak  of  "missions"  and  "missiona- 
ries" and  limit  the  words  to  a  special  and  pecu- 
liar type  of  far-off  work  or  workers,  we  pro- 
duce a  wrong  impression,  and  do  practical 
harm  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  to  the  general 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  toward  the 
Church's  mission. 

What,  then,  is  the  Church's  mission,  and 
what  does  it  involve  ?  Let  us  consider  the  sec- 
ond question  first.  Suppose  I  am  busy  at  my 
desk  and  want  to  see  Mr.  Jones  presently.  I 
say  to  my  secretary,  "I  want  to  see  Mr.  Jones 
of  30  Main  Street  here  or  at  his  office  an  hour 
from  now."  This  is  sufficient  if  my  secretary 
has  ordinary  intelligence.  He  at  once  does 
something — goes,  writes,  telephones  or  hires  a 
messenger-boy.  Of  course  he  goes  himself  in 
case  other  duties  permit;  but  in  any  case  he 
doesn't  sit  still  and  take  no  action.  He  has  a 
mission  to  perform,  and  evidently  the  discharge 
of  that  mission  involves  personal  activity  of 
some  sort.  The  word  "mission"  implies  activ- 
ity— doing  something.     When  we  speak  of 

31 


The  Church's  Life 

activity  in  connection  with  the  Church's  mis- 
sion, we  do  not  of  course  mean  only  moving 
about.  There  are  many  kinds  of  activity  other 
than  physical.  One  of  the  most  efficient  mis- 
sionaries I  ever  knew  was  a  bed-ridden  woman. 
She  read  about  the  Church's  work  and  work- 
ers ;  she  prayed  for  them ;  her  hands  and  brain 
were  constantly  active  on  their  behalf.  Her 
activity,  constantly  exercised,  was  of  mind  and 
hands.  I  know  of  another  who,  in  the  course 
of  her  latter  fifty  years,  had  amassed  a  for- 
tune of  1 08  godchildren,  with  every  one  of 
whom  she  kept  in  touch  at  monthly  intervals 
and  every  one  of  whom  was  active  in  Church 
work.  Her  own  activity  as  a  missionary  was 
of  the  letter-writing  variety,  and  who  can 
measure  its  value  ?  Again,  there  is  the  activity 
of  putting  one's  hand  into  one's  purse  and 
taking  it  out  again  with  the  wherewithal  to 
further  the  Church's  mission.  Very  different 
kinds  of  activity,  these;  but  all  exceedingly 
valuable. 

But  the  discharge  of  a  mission  implies  some- 
thing besides  activity.  There  must  also  be  the 
delivery  of  a  message.  Mere  activity  is  not 
sufficient.  My  secretary  must  see  to  it  that  by 
some  means  Mr.  Jones  gets  my  message  and 
gets  it  in  time.  It  would  be  quite  useless  for 
him  merely  to  walk  to  30  Main  Street  and  then 
walk  back.  He  must,  in  some  way,  either  di- 
rectly   or    indirectly,    accomplish    his    object. 

32 


A  Chosen  Generation 

Secondly,  then,  a  mission  implies  the  delivery 
of  a  message. 

These  facts  are  true  of  the  Church's  mis- 
sion as  of  every  other  mission.  They  apply  to 
every  member  of  the  Church.  Every  baptized 
person  has  a  specific  message  which  he  is  called 
upon  to  deliver  to  one  specific  person  or  pos- 
sibly to  many.  It  devolves  upon  him  to  take 
some  direct  action  without  delay.  For  it  must 
be  quite  plain  that  if  the  gospel  is  really  what 
it  claims  to  be — good  news — much  is  involved 
in  its  announcement.  Thus,  in  order  to  be 
"news"  it  must  be  taken  to  those  who  are  either 
ignorant  or  unappreciative  of  it;  to  be  "good 
news"  it  must  be  news  the  acceptance  of  which 
adds  to  the  joy  of  living;  and  in  order  to  be 
of  use,  as  a  matter  of  life  and  death,  it  must 
be  brought  in  time.  A  messenger  bearing 
abundant  food  to  a  starving  man  is  of  little 
use  if  he  delays  his  mission  and  arrives  only 
after  the  man  has  starved  to  death. 

Thirdly,  if  a  man  has  a  message  to  deliver, 
it  is  essential  that  he  know  precisely  what  that 
message  is.  It  is  not  so  necessary  for  him  to 
determine  just  how  he  is  to  get  the  message 
across;  but  he  must,  at  least,  know  what  the 
message  is  about. 

What,  then,  is  God's  message  to  the  world? 
The  simplest  way  is  to  go  straight  to  the  Gos- 
pels— the  record  of  the  Great  Messenger  Him- 
self. A  message  appears  very  early  in  His 
active  ministry,  indeed  even  before  His  min- 

33 


The  Church's  Life 

istry  began ;  for  John  the  Baptist  heralded  His 
coming  by  the  statement,  "Repent  ye;  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  Make  straight 
the  way  of  the  Lord"  (  St.  Matt.  3 : 1  -2 ;  St.  John 
1:23).  This  announcement  appears  to  have 
been  an  important  one  in  the  mind  of  Christ, 
for  as  soon  as  John  is  no  longer  able  to  pro- 
nounce it  publicly,  He  adopts  it  as  His  own 
preliminary  message  to  the  world  (St.  Mark 
1:14,  15).  And  surely  there  are  abundant 
signs  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  today  nearer 
at  hand  than  ever  before  in  the  world's  history. 
God  seems  to  have  used  even  war  to  further 
His  own  ends.  The  determined  efforts  toward 
moral  and  social  reforms  throughout  Christen- 
dom— efforts  sometimes  ill-directed  and  exag- 
gerated it  may  be,  but  none  the  less  earnest; 
the  suppression  of  "the  people  that  delight  in 
war";  the  saner  forms  of  social  unrest;  the 
vast  swing  of  all  civil  government  toward  de- 
mocracy; the  growing  passion  for  Christian 
unity ;  the  increasing  coordination  of  Christian 
forces ;  the  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  pagan 
lands,  attaining,  in  some  cases,  the  proportions 
of  mass  movements — what  are  all  these  but 
steps  in  the  drawing  nigh  of  God's  Kingdom? 
Never  was  there  a  time  when  that  declaration, 
made  by  the  great  Messenger  of  God  so  long 
ago,  seemed  nearer  its  fulfillment.  But,  as  a 
preparation  for  that  fulfillment,  God  calls  man 
to  repentance.  Because  the  Kingdom  is  nearer 
than  ever  before,  the  deeper  is  the  need  for 

34 


A  Chosen  Generation 

men  to  examine  themselves  and  their  motives  of 
conduct,  and,  wherever  they  have  offended 
against  righteousness,  to  repent  and  be  con- 
verted— to  turn  around  and  take  the  opposite 
course. 

The  whole  trouble  with  the  world  today  is, 
as  it  always  has  been,  that  the  Church  is  not 
producing  a  sufficient  supply  of  visible  and 
effective  righteousness  to  go  round.  This  in 
turn  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  are  not  enough 
Christians  working  overtime  at  producing  more 
Christians.  Hence,  the  coming  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  on  earth  lags.  This  might  be 
illustrated  by  a  simple  analogy.  We  are  all 
painfully  aware  of  the  fact  that  if  we  need  a 
new  pair  of  shoes  we  have  to  pay  two  or  three 
times  as  much  as  we  paid  for  the  same  quality 
five  years  ago.  Why  ?  Because  there  are  not 
shoes  enough  to  go  round.  But  wThy  is  the 
supply  so  short?  One  reason  may  be  that  the 
shoemakers  who  worked  overtime  during  the 
war  are  now  experiencing  the  let-down  that 
every  worker  feels  after  a  period  of  unusual 
energy,  and  they  have  made  up  their  minds  to 
limit  their  hours  of  work;  therefore  fewer 
shoes  are  produced,  and  up  goes  the  price.  It 
is  much  the  same  with  us  Christians.  The 
objective  of  the  war  was  to  overthrow  the  rule 
of  might  and  to  substitute  for  it  the  rule  of 
right ;  to  this  end — surely  a  righteous  end — we 
all  worked  overtime.  But  the  moment  the 
armistice  was  signed  we  all  experienced  a  les- 

35 


The  Church^  Life 

sening  of  morale  and  began  to  congratulate 
ourselves  on  the  fact  that  we  could  now  take 
a  rest,  or  at  'least  that  we  were  justified  in 
diverting  our  thoughts  and  energies  to  the  less 
serious  concerns  which  we  delighted  in  before 
the  war  startled  us  into  the  consciousness  that 
we  were  in  fearful  danger  of  seeing  the  law 
of  might  actually  put  into  effect  the  world  over, 
and  that  we  must  stop  the  process  at  all  costs. 
The  blind  folly  of  such  an  easeful  course  is 
becoming  more  and  more  apparent.  The  war 
proved  a  mighty  stimulus  to  the  effort  to  pro- 
duce more  righteousness  and  peace  in  the 
world,  but  now  all  sorts  of  new  unrighteous- 
nesses are  cropping  up ;  the  world  is  in  turmoil 
and  its  peace  is  threatened  in  all  directions; 
wide-spread  discontent  is  apparent,  and  the 
discontented  appear  to  be  again  prepared  to 
invoke  the  old  law  of  might  in  order  to  gain 
their  ends.  The  truth  is  that  the  greatest 
dangers  inherent  in  war  are  not  those  existing 
during  the  actual  hostilities  when  a  great  cause 
keeps  fighters  and  workers  keyed  up  to  high 
endeavor  and  limitless  sacrifice,  but  rather 
those  characteristic  of  the  aftermath  of  war 
when  the  stimulus  is  gone  and  men  are  tired 
of  struggling  even  for  the  right.  It  is  the 
period  of  reconstruction,  such  as  that  we  are 
now  in  the  midst  of,  which  really  tries  men's 
souls.  What  else  brought  on  the  war,  what 
else  explains  conditions  in  the  world  now  that 
the  war  is  over,  except  the  fact  that  the  visible 

36 


A  Chosen  Generation 

supply  of  righteousness  has  never  equalled  the 
demand — that  there  have  never  been  enough 
real  Christians?    And  the  remedy? 

Well,  in  the  case  of  shoes,  the  remedy  for 
the  inadequate  supply  is  to  be  found  only  in 
making  more  shoes.  To  this  end  every  shoe- 
maker must  work  harder ;  he  might  even  devote 
part  of  his  time  to  teaching  some  one  else  how 
to  be  a  shoemaker.  Not  shorter  hours  than 
during  the  war,  but  longer ;  not  less  work,  but 
more  and  of  a  better  quality.  Precisely  the 
same  is  it  with  us  Christians.  The  present  is 
no  time  for  relaxing  effort  or  shirking  work. 
Righteousness  and  peace  are  scarce  commod- 
ities today,  the  cost  of  producing  Christians  is 
high,  the  supply  short.  (The  crowning  trag- 
edy of  the  war  was  that  it  destroyed  Christians 
and  non-Christians  indiscriminately,  thereby 
decreasing  the  already  too  scanty  supply.) 
What  is  needed  on  the  part  of  Christians  is 
not  less  work,  but  more  and  of  a  better  quality 
than  ever;  not  less  determination  to  make  the 
law  of  right  supreme,  but  more.  The  job  of 
every  Christian  at  this  present  moment  is 
surely  to  devote  part  of  his  time  to  showing 
some  one  else  how  to  be  a  Christian.  We  have 
seen  the  actual  good  which  God  brought  out 
of  the  war,  but  let  us  remember  that  while  God 
does  overrule  and  bless  man's  efforts  to  pro- 
mote His  cause  on  earth,  inadequate  though 
these  efforts  may  be,  He  cannot  overrule  for 


The  Church's  Life 

good  man's  sheer  indifference  and  laziness,  or 
even  his  "faintness  in  well  doing." 

But  to  return  to  our  theme  of  God's  mes- 
sage. However  much  our  Lord,  throughout 
His  ministry,  dwelt  on  the  teaching  of  the 
Kingdom,  this  was  rather  the  result  of  the 
accepted  message  than  the  message  itself.  The 
latter  is  found,  in  its  most  succinct  form,  in 
those  words  which  are  perhaps  more  univer- 
sally familiar  than  any  others  in  the  Gospel: 
"God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him, 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life" 
(St.  John  3:16).  Could  any  announcement 
open  up  more  marvelous  vistas  of  possibility; 
could  the  divine  will  for  man  be  more  per- 
fectly expressed  ?  Note  the  outstanding  words : 
;'God,"  "loved,"  "world,"  "gave,"  "life."  Here 
is  the  clarion  announcement  of  the  redemption 
of  all  mankind ;  here  also  is  the  whisper  to  the 
individual  soul — "whosoever  believeth." 

This,  then,  is  the  fundamental,  primary  mes- 
sage of  God  through  Christ.  We  may  be  able 
neither  to  understand  it  nor  to  explain  it,  but 
we  can  receive,  believe  and  announce  it.  In- 
deed, as  Christians,  we  can  do  no  less.  The 
disciples  certainly  had  no  conception  of  its 
meaning;  it  dawned  upon  them  only  as  the 
weeks  drew  to  months  and  the  months  to  years. 
Nevertheless  note  how  their  Lord  used  these 
men — untrained,  without  understanding — as 
His  messengers.    Presently,  when  the  impos- 

38 


A  Chosen  Generation 

sibility  of  His  reaching  large  numbers  of  peo- 
ple personally  becomes  apparent,  he  chooses 
first  twelve  and  later  seventy  of  his  followers. 
He  tells  them  to  proclaim  the  approach  of  the 
Kingdom,  but,  more  than  that,  He  gives  to 
these  ignorant,  uninformed,  men  spiritual 
power  to  such  a  degree  that  the  results  astound 
them.  And  this,  simply  because  they  were 
willing  to  place  themselves  in  His  hands,  to 
step  out  regardless  of  their  self-evident  unfit- 
ness, asking  no  questions,  urging  no  excuses. 
Why  can't  Christian  men  and  women  show  a 
like  spirit  today?  Why  will  they  sit  down  and 
manufacture  excuses,  when  Jesus  Christ  has 
come  to  them  as  closely  as,  for  example,  in  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  and  bids  them  show  at 
least  some  form  of  activity  as  His  messengers? 
For  remember,  those  early  disciples,  whatever 
they  lacked,  had  the  one  essential  quality — 
they  were  "willing  in  the  day  of  God's  power." 
Moreover,  they  learned  through  their  experi- 
ence itself.  They  doubtless  expected  no  great 
results  in  themselves  or  others;  but  at  their 
Lord's  command  they  tried  the  experiment, 
and,  like  the  crew  of  fishermen  later,  they  re- 
turned elated,  strengthened  and  blessed.  Try 
it  you  who  are  shrinking,  doubtful  of  your 
own  ability,  satisfied  to  remain  inactive !  Note 
this  also  for  your  encouragement:  In  the  case 
of  the  Seventy,  at  least,  the  Lord  followed 
them,  going  to  each  place  which  they  visited, 

39 


The  Church's  Life 

no  doubt  correcting  their  mistakes,  certainly 
reenforcing  their  message. 

But  let  us  go  a  step  farther  in  discovering 
God's  message  and  method.  Occasionally  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  Gospel  narrative,  almost 
always  later,  we  find  that  these  messengers 
heretofore  called  "disciples" — learners,  are 
given  a  new  title — "Apostles" — men  sent. 
This  is  significant,  for  if  a  man  is  sent  it  must 
be  with  a  purpose,  and  if  we  can  find  the  pur- 
pose we  shall  also  probably  find  the  message. 
Pass  from  the  Gospels  to  the  Acts,  noting  by 
the  way  that  it  was  only  after  Christ's  physical 
presence  was  withdrawn  from  the  disciples 
that  they  are  commonly  called  Apostles.  It 
is  as  if  He  knew  that  He  could  now  depend 
upon  them  to  bear  the  message  as  He  had 
borne  it,  to  be  sent  as  He  was  sent.  Indeed  He 
knew  that  it  was  better,  for  the  wider  procla- 
mation of  God's  message,  that  His  physical 
presence,  with  its  limitations,  should  be  with- 
drawn and  that  they  should  be  left  to  other 
guidance  in  the  task  of  proclaiming  the  mes- 
sage, increasing  the  number  of  messengers, 
and  building  up  the  Church  to  accomplish  what 
He  had  begun  (St.  John  16:7-14).  What, 
then,  was  the  purpose  for  which  the  Apostles 
were  sent  ?  It  is  very  plainly  stated — "Ye  shall 
be  witnesses  unto  me"  (Acts  1:8).  Consider 
the  word  witness.  It  has  two  meanings  as 
commonly  used.  It  may  have  the  meaning  to 
see  an  occurrence ;  or  it  may  mean  to  bear  testi- 

40 


A  Chosen  Generation 

mony  to  something  known  or  experienced. 
Every  lawyer  is  familiar  with  this  latter  use 
of  the  word.  I  may  say,  "I  witnessed  a  display 
of  Northern  Lights  last  night."  You  may 
doubt  it.  I  reply,  "But  I  am  ready  to  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  fact  that  I  witnessed  it." 

Now  what  was  it  that  these  disciples  had 
witnessed  or  seen — an  event  of  such  a  stupen- 
dous character  that  they  could  not  help  bearing 
testimony  at  once  to  the  fact?  In  other  words, 
what  was  their  immediate  message  after  the 
Day  of  Pentecost,  and  what  relation  did  it  bear 
to  their  Lord's  message  to  the  world?  The 
fact  was  evidently  the  Resurrection.  They  had 
seen  their  Lord  done  to  death  beyond  all  doubt ; 
equally  beyond  all  doubt,  they  had  seen  Him 
risen  from  the  dead.  It  was  an  astounding 
fact,  unique  in  human  experience.  If  even  to 
the  disciples,  duly  warned  beforehand  to  expect 
the  Resurrection,  the  event  appeared  beyond 
belief,  it  was  doubly  necessary  that  it  be  abso- 
lutely proven  for  the  sake  of  those  who  should 
come  after.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  when, 
owing  to  Judas  Iscariot's  treason  and  suicide, 
it  became  at  once  advisable  to  choose  some  one 
to  take  his  place,  only  one  requirement  ap- 
peared essential !  It  must  be  one  who,  like  the 
Eleven,  had  witnessed  the  Resurrection  (Acts 
i  :22).  This  was  the  fact  to  which  they  were 
all  to  bear  witness,  and  therefore  it  was  this, 
rather  than  repentance,  or  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom,  or  even  God's  announcement  of  His 

41 


The  Church's  Life 

love,  which  became  the  center  and  core  of  their 
first  preaching.  Many  deductions  were  drawn 
from  this  great  fact,  but  St.  Peter's  first  ad- 
dress to  the  people  has  for  its  fundamental 
theme  the  certainty  of  the  Lord's  Resurrection 
and  continued  life.  Their  message  was  that, 
in  one  case  at  least,  and  to  their  certain  knowl- 
edge, death  was  vanquished  and  eternal  life 
proved  possible. 

But  possibly  this  case  was  a  unique  one.  It 
may  be  objected  that  Jesus  Christ  rose  from 
the  dead  because  He  was  God,  and  that  there- 
fore His  Resurrection  has  no  significance  for 
us  ordinary  men.  To  this  it  may  be  replied 
that  to  the  disciples  certainly  this  explanation 
never  presented  itself.  They  had  seen  Him 
live  as  a  man,  be  tempted  as  a  man,  suffer  as 
a  man,  die  as  a  man;  and  now  they  had  seen 
Him  rise  from  the  dead  as  a  man.  An  ordi- 
nary man?  No.  But  the  kind  of  man  which 
every  human  being  has  the  privilege  of  becom- 
ing when  he  is  made  a  son  of  God.  While  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  nowhere  teach 
the  inherent  immortality  of  man  as  such,  they 
do  teach  constantly  that  eternal  life  becomes 
the  possession  of  every  man  new-born  into 
God's  family,  and  kept  in  touch  with  the  life 
of  God  in  Christ. 

But  there  was  still  another  message — an- 
other reason  for  testimony.  "Ye  shall  be  wit- 
nesses unto  me,"  their  Lord  had  said.  Who 
was  it  whom  they  had  seen,  and  lived  with  and 

42 


A  Chosen  Generation 

known  through  three  years  of  close  intimacy? 
St.  John,  the  Apostle  of  deepest  insight  into  the 
true  nature  of  Him  whom  he  loved  so  pro- 
foundly, gives  the  answer.  "The  Word  of 
life,"  he  calls  Him  (i  John  1:1).  There  is  no 
doubt  of  whom  he  is  speaking.  The  phrase 
instantly  recalls  the  prologue  of  his  Gospel — 
"In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word 
was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  ...  In 
him  was  life"  (St.  John  i  n-4).  And  turning 
again  to  the  epistle,  we  read,  "The  life  was 
manifested,  and  we  have  seen  it,  and  bear  wit- 
ness, and  show  unto  you  that  eternal  life'' 
( 1  John  1:2).  This  was  the  Being  whom  their 
eyes  had  looked  upon,  whom  their  hands  had 
handled,  of  whom  they  had  had  a  personal 
experience.  It  was  to  Him  that  they  were  to 
bear  witness;  and  He  was  "the  Word" — the 
expression — of  God  Himself.  Was  not  this 
precisely  what  He  had  said  of  Himself  in  the 
days  when  they  had  failed  to  understand? 
"He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father" 
(St.  John  14:9).  They  had  seen  God  in  the 
flesh;  so  far  as  human  minds  can  apprehend 
God,  they  knew,  by  experience,  what  God  was 
like;  and,  best  of  all,  they  could  tell  others. 
Here,  surely,  was  a  message  worth  telling  to 
men  groping  for  God  in  the  dark,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him.  And  how 
about  ourselves  who,  though  not  having  seen 
Him,  yet  have  believed;  who  have  before  us 
the  record  of  His  life  and  words ;  who  can  turn 

43 


The  Church's  Life 

to  that  record  and  see  in  it  a  perfect  picture 
of  what  God  is  like?  Then,  having  mastered 
every  detail  of  that  picture,  how  can  we  resist 
the  insistent  call  to  show  it  to  others,  even  to 
one  other,  and  thus  dispel  the  gloom  of  those 
who,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  are  in  that 
most  desperate  and  heart-breaking  of  condi- 
tions, "without  Christ,  having  no  hope,  and 
without  God  in  the  world"  (Eph.  2:12)? 

Finally,  let  us  see  the  climax  of  the  whole 
message  of  those  first  Apostles.  We  have  seen 
how  eagerly  and  insistently  they  dwelt  upon 
the  message  of  the  Resurrection — of  the  vic- 
tory of  life — a  message  to  an  ignorant,  dying 
world.  We  have  seen,  too,  how,  having  seen 
God  in  the  flesh,  having  heard  Him  and  lived 
with  Him  and  been  taught  by  Him,  having 
experienced  His  love  and  pity  and  sympathy 
and  patience  and  majesty,  they  were  in  a  posi- 
tion to  tell  all  men  what  God  was  like.  One 
thing  only  remained:  from  their  contact  with 
the  ever-living  Christ,  they  became  aware  of  a 
new  life  in  themselves.  Somehow  the  Christ 
was  able  to  transmit  His  own  indestructible, 
unending  life  to  others.  I  don't  mean  to  say 
that  this  was  realized  at  once.  Indeed  the  fact, 
though  witnessed  to  by  every  one  of  them 
whose  testimony  we  have,  is  not  fully  and  gen- 
erally grasped  even  today.  Yet  the  testimony 
is  perfectly  plain.    Let  us  examine  it. 

To  the  biologist,  one  fact  is  incontrovertible. 
No  created  being  possesses  inherent  life.    Life 

44 


A  Chosen  Generation 

is  an  endowment  of  all  organized  beings,  from 
the  lowliest  up  to  man,  but  it  is  a  transient 
endowment.  It  may  be  short,  or  it  may  outlast 
centuries,  but  sooner  or  later  death  intervenes, 
life  vanishes,  and  the  creature  returns  to  the 
elements  of  which  it  was  composed.  In  God 
alone — the  Source  of  life — the  I  AM — the 
Everlasting  One — is  life  inherent.  What  then 
is  this  that  Jesus  Christ  says  of  Himself  ?  "As 
the  Father  hath  life  in  himself;  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself"  (St. 
John  5 126).  It  is  one  of  those  quiet  statements 
of  fact  such  as  our  Lord  was  constantly  mak- 
ing about  Himself,  only  to  be  as  constantly 
misunderstood  because  of  the  implications  im- 
possible at  first  to  grasp,  and  therefore,  as 
many  modern  teachers  would  have  us  believe, 
to  be  explained  away  somehow.  And  doubtless 
some  of  His  similar  statements  are  open  to  such 
interpretation.  "I  and  my  Father  are  one." 
Is  there  not  a  sense  in  which  a  similar  oneness 
exists  between  a  truly  married  husband  and 
wife?  Or  take  the  saying  previously  quoted, 
"He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
St.  John  later  recognized  its  full  meaning;  but, 
after  all,  might  it  not  mean  merely  that,  in 
character,  Christ  more  nearly  resembled  the 
imagined  divine  ideal  than  has  any  other 
human  being?  And  so  with  the  other  claims 
of  Christ.  But  how  about  this,  of  inherent 
life?  Read  it  again.  The  statement  is  very 
direct;  the  words  perfectly  simple.     But  how 

45 


The  Church's  Life 

stupendous  the  claim !  No  less  than  the  claim 
to  have  in  Himself  inherent,  indestructible, 
communicable  life,  in  the  same  degree  and 
measure  as  has  the  Eternal  God,  Creator  of  all 
things  visible  and  invisible.  Explain  it  away 
if  you  can!  Reject  it  if  you  like!  But  there 
it  stands  for  every  Christian  to  accept  with  all 
its  implications.  If  proof  be  needed  over  and 
above  His  own  word,  it  is  found  in  the  Resur- 
rection. His  life  had  so  strong  and  inherent 
a  quality  as  to  be  invincible  even  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Death. 

Nor,  as  we  have  just  seen,  is  this  all.  The 
Apostles  certainly  believed  and  taught  that 
this  ever-living  Christ  is  able  to  communicate 
to  otherwise  mortal  human  beings  His  own 
inherent,  indestructible,  eternal  life.  Indeed 
He  Himself  gives  this  assurance:  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth  my 
word,  and  believeth  him  that  sent  me,  hath 
eternal  life,  and  cometh  not  into  judgment,  but 
hath  passed  out  of  death  into  life"  (St.  John 
5 124) .  Here  is  held  out,  not  some  future  hope, 
but  a  present  reality — not  "shall  have,"  but 
"hath"  eternal  life— not  "shall  pass"  out  of 
death,  but  "hath  passed."  How  well  St.  John 
realized  eternal  life  as  an  accomplished  fact 
in  himself  and  others  who  had  touched  the 
Living  One!  "God  gave  unto  us,"  he  writes 
years  later,  "eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his 
Son.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life;  he 
that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  the  life" 

46 


A  Chosen  Generation 

(i  John  5:11,  12).  There  is  no  message  worth 
giving  unless  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  (1 
Cor.  15:14).  The  message  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion lacks  point  unless,  because  He  lives,  we 
also  live  (St.  John  14:19).  It  was  not  so 
much  a  proof  of  His  deity  as  an  assurance  of 
invincible  life  to  all  who  are  in  union  with  Him. 
So  our  Lord  sums  up  the  objective  of  His 
mission  in  words  fraught  with  a  glorious  op- 
portunity for  all  the  sons  of  men  in  every  phase 
of  existence — "I  came  that  they  may  have  life, 
and  may  have  it  more  abundantly"  (St.  John 
10:10).  No  darkest  corner  of  earth  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  that  shining  message;  no  aspect 
of  human  life  need  remain  untouched  by  it. 
This  is  the  objective  of  "missions";  in  these 
terms  we  may  find  the  perfect  definition  of 
that  ill-used  word. 

Tremendous  as  is  the  responsibility  thus  en- 
tailed upon  us  Christians,  the  privilege  is  no 
less.  Eternal  life  is  our  possession.  For  us 
death  has  no  terrors.  Yet  all  about  us  are  men 
and  women  who  have  not  the  life,  and  who,  as 
the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  ex- 
presses it,  are  "through  fear  of  death,  all  their 
lifetime  subject  to  bondage"  (Heb.  2:15). 
From  the  African  savage  with  his  fetich 
against  the  ubiquitous  powers  of  evil  and  death, 
to  the  modern  man  of  super-civilized  terror  of 
germs,  the  majority  of  mankind — of  our  own 
acquaintances — exist  under  the  shadow  of 
fearful  death,  and  spend  their  hours  guarding 

47 


The  Church's  Life 

against  its  insidious  approach.  But  for  the 
Christian  there  is  no  death,  only  a  momentary 
falling  asleep  when  his  limited  work  is  done 
and  he  is  ready  to  continue  that  work  else- 
where, free  and  unhampered;  'Tor  the  law  of 
the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death"  (Rom. 
8:2).  Under  the  power  of  such  an  assurance, 
other  promises  of  the  Master  of  Life  become 
realized.  Anxiety  and  worry  in  the  present, 
uncertainty  and  fear  regarding  the  future — 
these  curses  of  modern  life  which  drive  men 
and  women  into  premature  old  age— are  super- 
seded by  their  direct  opposites.  'These  things 
have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy  may  be 
in  you,  and  that  your  joy  may  be  fulfilled  (com- 
plete)" (St.  John  15:11).  "Peace  I  leave  with 
you;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you"  (St.  John  14: 
27).  "These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you, 
that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace"  (St.  John  16: 
33).  What  more  could  we  want?  What 
greater  assurance  of  happiness  could  we 
imagine?  The  fear  of  death  gone  forever; 
life  eternal  our  possession  here  and  now;  all 
anxiety  dissipated ;  peace  and  joy  our  portion. 
This  seems  to  me  the  crowning  message  of 
God,  through  Christ,  to  a  world  in  desperate 
need  of  just  what  the  message  promises. 

If  this  be  true,  it  follows  that  what  our  Lord 
says  about  a  new  birth,  and  the  expression 
used  by  St.  Paul  to  describe  Christians,  are 
literal  facts.     "Except  a  man  be  born  anew 

48 


A  Chosen  Generation 

(from  above),  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God"  (St.  John  3:3).  "Except  a  man  be  born 
of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God"  (St.  John  3:5).  "If  any 
man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature"  (11 
Cor.  5:17).  This  may  oblige  us  to  revise  our 
ideas  regarding  the  ascending  scale  of  created 
things.  It  seems  to  introduce  us  to  a  new  order 
of  beings.  Heretofore  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  the  inorganic  Mineral  King- 
dom; next  above  it  the  Vegetable  Kingdom, 
above  this  the  Animal,  and,  at  the  summit  of 
the  latter,  Man.  But  how  if  above  Man  there  is 
a  higher  Kingdom  of  new-born  men — a  "new 
creation"  ?  So  it  surely  is ;  and  this  new  crea- 
tion— the  citizens  of  God's  Kingdom — the 
members  of  God's  Family — of  His  Church — 
constitutes  a  new  class  of  human  beings,  dis- 
tinguished from  all  below  it  by  the  fact  that 
those  admitted  to  it  possess  a  kind  of  life, 
described  as  everlasting,  which  is  different 
from  that  possessed  by  ordinary  mortals,  and 
is  as  much  higher  in  the  scale  of  being  as 
human  life  is  above  that  of  the  lower  animals.* 
Of  course  it  must  be  added,  with  the  utmost 
degree  of  emphasis,  that,  like  all  analogies,  this 
cannot  be  pressed  to  a  purely  logical  conclu- 
sion; for  the  glory  of  human  beings  is  the  fact 
that  every  one  of  them  has  the  capacity  of 

*This  will  be  recognized  as  the  view  so  convincingly  set 
forth  years  ago  by  Professor  Drummond  in  his  book,  Nat- 
ural Law  in  the  Spiritual  World. 

49 


The  Church's  Life 

being  born  again  into  immortality — to  rise  in 
the  scale  of  existence;  while  the  lower  animals, 
so  far  as  we  know,  can  not.  In  this  tran- 
scendent possibility  lies  your  opportunity  and 
mine.  For  to  us  is  entrusted  this  message  of 
life;  and,  more  than  that,  we  know  how  the 
life  may  be  secured.  Jesus  Christ  said  that 
unless  a  man  is  born  anew  of  water  and  the 
Spirit  he  has  no  entrance  into  the  Kingdom  of 
God;  and  the  implication  is  that  by  such  Bap- 
tism he  does  obtain  the  new  birth  and  begins 
the  new  life.  This  is  the  door  into  the  King- 
dom— we  know  of  none  other.  It  is  true  that 
God  may  provide  other  means  of  entrance. 
Who  would  place  limitations  upon  His  infinite 
grace?  But  we  are  not  assured  of  any  other; 
we  are  assured  of  this.  We  know,  too,  both  by 
teaching  and  experience,  how  the  new  life — 
weak  and  incomplete  at  first — may  be  nour- 
ished and  strengthened.  By  the  careful  nur- 
ture of  the  new-born  life,  by  the  strength  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  given  with  the  laying  on  of 
hands  in  Confirmation,  by  the  receiving  of 
Christ  Himself  in  the  Holy  Communion,  by 
purposeful  prayer,  by  study  of  God's  word — 
in  brief,  by  all  the  means  of  grace,  the  new  life 
develops  and  expands  until  it  reaches  its 
earthly  consummation  and  attains  unto  "the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Son  of  God,  unto  a  full  grown  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ"  (Eph.  4:13).     In  the  whole  process, 

50 


A  Chosen  Generation 

Baptism  is  the  birth,  completed  in  Confirma- 
tion ;  the  Holy  Communion  is  the  development ; 
likeness  to  Christ  is  the  objective;  eternal  life 
is  the  possession.  The  Church  selects  these 
Sacraments  as  all-important  and,  indeed,  as 
"generally  necessary  to  salvation"  (A  Cate- 
chism. tThe  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  p.  270). 
If  it  be  objected  that  in  thus  emphasizing 
God's  manner  of  working  through  material 
means  trivial  in  themselves — water,  bread, 
wine — we  are  limiting  His  freedom  of  opera- 
tion, we  may  reply  that,  in  the  first  place,  we 
are  not  presuming  to  say  what  He  can  or  what 
He  can  not  do;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that 
the  consensus  of  Christian  thought  through- 
out the  centuries  is  our  warrant  for  believing 
not  only  that  God  works  by  self-imposed  law, 
but  that  the  Sacraments  are  the  normal  expres- 
sion of  His  law  working  in  the  realm  of  grace. 
The  liberty  of  God  never  degenerates  into 
license.  Since  first  He  moved  on  the  face  of 
the  waters  creating  life,  He  has  been  self- 
restrained  by  law  and  order.  The  law  by 
which  the  planets  revolve  in  their  appointed 
orbits,  or  water  becomes  wine  in  the  vital  pro- 
cesses of  growth,  or  the  ocean  breathes  in 
rhythmic  tides,  or  bread  is  transmuted  into  the 
Body  of  Christ,  or  consecrated  hands  become 
the  channels  of  grace — in  these  alike  we  recog- 
nize the  operation  of  Law.  If  the  labors  of 
scientific  men  and  their  consensus  of  opinion 
have  sufficed  to  reveal  the  laws  of  God  in  the 

51 


The  Church's  Life 

material  realm  so  that  we  guide  our  daily 
actions  by  them,  even  though  there  may  be 
operations  of  law  unknown  to  us  as  yet;  it 
would  be  strange  indeed  if  the  mind  of  the 
Church  has  been  led  astray  when  it  sought  to 
discover  God's  laws  in  the  spiritual  realm,  and 
has  failed  to  formulate  them  aright,  even 
though  much  yet  remains  to  be  revealed.  The 
theory  of  the  freedom  of  the  Holy  Spirit  apart 
from  law  has  its  logical  outcome  in  the  mad 
delusions  of  the  "Holy  Rollers."  When,  there- 
fore, we  would  show  men  the  way  of  salvation, 
we  can  do  so,  with  assurance  and  safety,  only 
as  we  direct  them  to  Baptism  and  the  whole 
sacramental  life  of  the  Church. 

Such,  then,  is  the  message  of  "good  news," 
and  it  is  only  that  final  and  complete  revelation 
of  God  in  Christ  which  we  call  Christianity 
that  brings  any  sufficient  assurance  of  eternal 
life  and  adds  to  that  assurance  the  perfect 
means  of  securing  and  maintaining  it.  No 
other  revelation,  such  as  is  to  be  found  express- 
ed in  incomplete  forms  among  all  nations,  pos- 
sesses this  assurance  or  this  power.  To  every 
doubting,  struggling,  fearing  son  of  man,  the 
Christian  can  point  the  way  to  life  and  peace 
and  joy ;  to  every  mortal,  it  is  within  the  Chris- 
tian's privilege  to  open  the  Kingdom's  gates. 
"Here  is  water;  what  doth  hinder  thee  to  be 
baptized  ?"  "Take,  eat ;  this  is  my  body."  "He 
that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood 
hath  eternal  life"  (Acts  8:36;  St.  Matt.  26:26). 

52 


CHAPTER  III 

LIFE  MORE  ABUNDANTLY 

We  have  seen  that  God's  supreme  message, 
through  and  in  Christ,  to  us  men,  is  the  good 
news  of  life  eternal,  beginning  normally  at 
Baptism,  empowered  in  Confirmation,  main- 
tained by  constant  contact  with  the  living  Son 
of  God  through  the  Eucharist  and  God's  other 
means  of  grace.  We  Christians  are  thus  re- 
born into  conditions  of  existence  infinitely 
above  that  of  ordinary  humanity,  and  in  that 
higher  realm  of  being  we  are  maintained  with 
increasing  fullness,  if  we  choose.  The  funda- 
mental characteristics  of  that  plane  in  the 
ascending  scale  of  life  are  its  eternal  quality, 
its  perfect  peace  and  the  fullness  of  joy,  quite 
irrespective  of  surrounding  conditions.  This 
is  a  certainty  of  common  experience.  We  have 
seen,  too,  that  it  is  our  manifest  duty,  as  it  is 
our  privilege,  knowing  the  way  of  life,  to  lead 
some  one  else  to  see  and  follow  it. 

It  is  surely  remarkable  that,  if  these  are  real 
experiences,  they  should  have  so  small  a  part 
in  the  thought  and  life  of  the  average  run  of 
new-born  people.  It  is  almost  impossible,  m 
most  cases,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  lower 

53 


The  Church's  Life 

order  of  mortals.  Once  on  Sunday  they  are 
seen  to  enter  the  doors  of  a  special  building, 
but  why  they  do  it  and  what  they  do  when  they 
get  inside,  are  enigmas  to  their  friends  out- 
side. Possibly  if  the  latter  knew  that  the  new- 
born man  merely  followed  a  custom  of  his  kind, 
and  that  all  he  did  was  to  say  Amen  a  dozen 
or  more  times  in  an  hour;  repeat,  with  perfect 
unconcern,  a  formula  of  life-changing  beliefs, 
hands  in  pockets,  on  his  face  a  vacant  stare  at 
his  neighbors ;  listen  drowsily  to  some  reading 
and  talking;  once  a  month  or  even  less  fre- 
quently be  given  a  bit  of  bread  and  a  sip  of 
wine — perhaps,  if  they  knew  this,  they  might 
wonder  still  more  whether  there  was,  between 
the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian,  any  real 
difference  of  such  a  character  as  to  make  in- 
vestigation worth  while.  The  Christian  has 
been  re-born  into  a  higher  sphere  of  existence, 
yet  most  of  his  concern  is  with  affairs  in  the 
lower  sphere.  Thus  the  birthday  which  he 
celebrates  so  joyously  is  obviously  not  his  real 
birthday  (though  exception  might  here  be  made 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  who,  as  a  rule,  does 
recall  his  "name-day"  and  does  celebrate  its 
anniversaries).  When  he  was  baptized,  the 
Christian  was  endowed  with  life  unending; 
yet,  in  his  more  serious  moments,  he  speaks  of 
the  "end  of  life,"  and  the  prospect  of  "death" 
rather  appals  him.  A  fellow-Christian  passes 
over  into  Paradise,  and  he  says,  "Poor  fel- 
low!"; if  the  relationship  has  been  a  close  one, 

54 


Life  More  Abundantly 

he  dresses  in  somber  black  and  mourns  visibly 
and  at  length.  Even  the  religious  press  has 
caught  the  habit,  and  prints  notices  to  the  effect 
that  such  and  such  an  aged  Christian  has  just 
"entered  upon  eternal  life.^ 

The  Christian  has  vowed  before  God  to  be 
and  to  remain  all  his  life  a  faithful  soldier  and 
servant  of  Christ,  and  therefore  to  obey  God, 
to  fight  for  His  cause  against  every  evil  thing, 
and  to  serve  in  His  Name.  This  he  has  adopted 
as  his  profession,  whatever  he  may  do  to  get 
a  living;  yet  one  is  forced  to  acknowledge  that 
if  every  soldier  fought  as  half-heartedly,  and 
every  servant  gave  as  inefficient  service  as  does 
the  average  Christian,  the  world  would  be 
nothing  but  a  hideous  caricature  of  what  God 
intended  it  to  be.  He  has  probably  forgotten 
the  date  of  his  Confirmation,  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  came  upon  him  with  power,  eager  to 
abide  with  him  forever.  To  go  without  his 
breakfast  is  a  hardship  not  easily  to  be  borne, 
but  to  forego  his  bit  of  morning  prayer  or  to 
oversleep  himself  and  miss  the  early  Eucharist 
does  not  disconcert  him  much.  In  a  word,  this 
average  Christian  seems  habitually  to  think  of 
life  in  terms  of  mortality,  and  of  his  relation  to 
God  in  terms  of  unreality.  Given  the  power 
to  live  on  a  high  plane,  he  is  content  to  exist 
most  of  the  time  on  a  lower.  One  recalls  the 
clever  remark  of  a  famous  English  actor  when 
discussing  with  a  certain  Bishop  the  relative 
appeal  of  the  stage  and  the  pulpit.    "The  truth 

55 


The  Church's  Life 

is,"  said  he,  "that  whereas  we  actors  present 
fiction  as  if  it  were  fact,  you  parsons  present 
fact  as  if  it  were  fiction. "  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  fault  today  lies  not  so  much  with 
the  clergy  as  with  the  laity.  The  religion 
of  the  average  layman  appears  to  have 
little  foundation  in  recognized  and  valued 
fact.  The  whole  matter  is  exceedingly  puz- 
zling, if  God  and  everything  connected  with 
Him  is  more  than  the  vain  imaginings  of 
man. 

I  am  not  arguing  for  a  life  withdrawn,  re- 
mote, secluded;  but  I  know  that  every  Chris- 
tian needs  to  make  God  more  real  to  himself  if 
he  is  to  make  Him  real  to  any  one  else;  in 
other  words,  the  Christian  needs  to  model  his 
thinking  and  his  daily  life  more  literally  upon 
that  of  Christ.  This  by  no  means  implies 
separation  from  the  world  or  from  the  affairs 
of  the  world.  Our  Lord  never  prayed  that  His 
disciples  should  be  secluded.  He  Himself  was 
anything  but  a  recluse.  He  was  keenly  alive 
to  the  world  about  Him.  He  was  interested 
in  people's  marriages  and  funerals,  in  their 
social  gatherings,  in  their  fishing,  their  tax- 
gathering,  their  homely  pursuits,  their  busi- 
ness. He  knows  quite  well — He  proved  it  Him- 
self— that  the  possession  of  eternal  life  is  not 
a  search-light  directed  heavenwards  only,  but 
a  glowing  sun  to  irradiate  every  corner  of  earth 
and  every  phase  of  human  life. 

It  is  important,  therefore,  to  find  out  just 
56 


Life  More  Abundantly 

what  our  Lord  meant  when  He  spoke  of  a  more 
abundant  life.  Had  He  in  mind  only  spiritual 
life,  and  was  His  message  only  to  the  souls  of 
men,  or  did  "life"  mean  to  Him  all  its  mani- 
festations? You  and  I  are  conscious,  if  we 
are  normal  human  beings,  of  three  kinds  of 
life.  I  walk  from  my  house  to  my  office  and  sit 
down  at  my  desk,  thereby  showing  that  I  pos- 
sess physical  life.  I  write  a  page  of  this  book; 
my  mind  works;  I  perceive  evidences  of  mental 
life.  The  Church  bell  rings,  and  I  find  myself 
able  and  glad  to  pray;  I  confess  my  sins,  am 
assured  of  pardon,  and  I  receive  the  blessed 
Sacrament;  I  have  come  into  contact  with 
spiritual  presences  and  realities,  and  I  immedi- 
ately become  as  conscious  of  renewed  life  in  my 
soul — that  is,  of  spiritual  life,  as  I  was,  a  few 
moments  before,  of  physical  and  mental  life; 
indeed,  in  joining  in  that  half-hour's  service,  I 
have  exhibited  all  evidences  of  life  which  I 
possess  —  physical,  mental,  spiritual  —  body, 
mind,  soul. 

Surely  then  in  promising  to  men  a  more 
abundant  life,  our  Lord  must  have  had  in  mind, 
not  spiritual  life  only,  but  every  aspect  of  life. 
His  actions  bear  this  out.  The  sight  of  imper- 
fect or  maimed  bodies  drew  His  instant  and 
active  sympathy — He  laid  His  hands  upon 
them  and  healed  them.  He  found  in  His  dis- 
ciples a  body  of  ''unlearned  and  ignorant  men," 
and  for  three  years  He  developed  their  mental 
life  until  their  minds  became  so  abundantly 

57 


The  Church's  Life 

alive  that  the  product  of  some  of  them  has  lived 
through  twenty  centuries,  and  shows  today 
more  practical  vitality  than  that  of  any  other 
group  of  philosophers  which  the  world  has  ever 
known.  So,  finally,  with  His  main  objective — 
more  abundant  spiritual  life.  Oftentimes  He 
appears  to  have  exerted  His  healing  power  on 
men's  bodies  merely  as  a  means  of  reaching 
their  souls ;  but  always  He  was  pouring  out  His 
own  richness  of  spiritual  experience  and  the 
abundant  vitality  of  His  own  soul  upon  all 
who  would  receive.  Thus,  His  disciples  had 
been  taught  to  pray  all  their  lives,  but  seeing 
Him  in  the  spiritual  activity  of  prayer,  they 
realized  their  own  pitiable  deficiencies  and 
begged  Him  to  supply  their  souls'  want  (St. 
Luke  1 1 :  i ) .  Thereupon  He  taught  them  to 
pray  in  the  words  so  familiar  to  us.  Later, 
toward  the  end,  He  taught  them  the  very  spirit 
of  prayer,  reminding  them  that  hitherto, 
though  they  had  learned  the  outward  form  of 
acceptable  prayer,  they  had  never  realized  what 
it  meant  to  pray  in  His  Name  or  character, 
nor  could  they  until  His  likeness  and  character 
had  become  more  perfectly  reproduced  in  them 
(St.  John  16:24).  Finally,  He  gave  them  the 
Sacrament  of  His  Body  and  Blood  to  be  their 
spiritual  food  and  sustenance.  Thus,  by  teach- 
ing them  to  worship  as  He  worshipped,  and 
by  giving  them  the  means  of  coming  into  the 
closest  conceivable  touch  with  Him  and  of 
abiding  in  Him  and  He  in  them,  He,  the  life 

58 


Life  More  Abundantly 

of  the  soul,  shared  with  them  His  own  abun- 
dant spiritual  life. 

The  practical  bearing  of  all  this  on  the 
Church's  mission  in  the  world  today  is  obvi- 
ous. If  it  be  true — as  I  think  it  is — that  the 
Church's  business,  and  therefore  that  of  every 
member  of  the  Church,  is  to  touch,  with  vitaliz- 
ing power,  every  man's  life  in  all  three  of  its 
manifestations,  then  the  Church  has  been  right 
in  these  latter  years,  in  going  throughout  the 
world  establishing  her  hospitals  and  schools, 
that  through  their  instrumentality  the  living 
Christ  may  minister  to  the  bodies  and  minds 
of  people  everywhere;  and,  above  all,  in  seek- 
ing to  transmit  life  for  the  soul  by  providing 
for  Church  extension  in  the  broadest  sense  of 
the  term,  including  evangelization  in  all  its 
forms,  the  teaching  and  training  of  converts, 
the  administration  of  Baptism,  and  the  erection 
of  suitable  church-buildings  where  the  people 
may  be  taught  the  dignity  of  worship  and  the 
beauty  of  holiness,  and  where  they  may  receive 
the  Holy  Communion  rightly  and  duly  admin- 
istered. 

Time  was  when  people  conceived  of  the 
Church's  mission  as  strictly  limited  to  pure 
evangelism,  and  when  they  even  decried  all 
social  and  educational  work  in  connection  with 
"Missions"  as  a  dangerous  departure  from  an 
ideal.  With  this  discussion  we  need  not  con- 
cern ourselves.  All  we  need  do  is  to  discover, 
if  possible,  the  manner  in  which  Christ  re- 

59 


The  Church's  Life 

garded  His  mission  and  what  means  He  took 
to  fulfill  it.  Personally,  I  cannot  avoid  the  con- 
clusion that  when  He  spoke  of  "life  more  abun- 
dantly" He  saw  the  full  round  of  man's  life, 
in  all  its  manifestations,  as  the  object  of  His 
expansive  and  uplifting  power — that  He  was 
eager  for  all  men  to  have  "salvation" — abun- 
dant health — in  body,  mind  and  soul.  Yet  no 
one  can  fail  to  recognize  that  the  soul  was 
always  His  chief  concern,  to  be  reached  and 
given  life  and  health  by  any  and  every  means, 
and  that,  consequently,  hospitals  and  schools — 
medical  practice  and  education — in  fact,  all 
philanthropic  agencies  meet  their  highest  ob- 
jective, from  Christ's  standpoint,  only  when 
they  are  fundamentally  Christian,  and  when 
they  recognize  in  all  their  work,  that  the  appli- 
cation of  Christ's  power  to  the  soul  is  the  one 
supremely  important  and  ultimate  aim. 

If  this  be  true,  it  will  be  interesting  to  con- 
sider whether  the  principle  is  applicable  to  the 
Church's  mission  everywhere,  and,  if  so,  how 
it  is  to  be  applied.  If  the  Church  represents 
the  projection  of  Christ's  life  in  the  world, 
and  the  continuation  of  His  ministry  to  the 
world;  and  if,  further,  He  is  our  supreme  ex- 
ample in  connection  with  our  mission,  it  would 
appear  that  that  mission  should  always  and 
everywhere  include  hospitals,  homes  for  the 
poor  and  neglected,  asylums,  orphanages,  play- 
grounds and  other  agencies  for  ministering  to 
bodily  needs ;  schools,  colleges,  seminaries  and 

60 


Life  More  Abundantly 

other  means  of  mental  and  industrial  train- 
ing; and,  above  all,  church  buildings  and  an 
adequate  supply  of  workers,  ordained  and  lay, 
to  preach  the  Word,  to  administer  the  Sacra- 
ments, to  provide  opportunity  for  worship,  and 
to  minister  effectively  to  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  community.  Evidently  these  three  forms 
of  missionary  activity  are  expressed  today  by 
the  terms,  Social  Service,  Religions  Education 
and  Church  Extension.  These,  together,  con- 
stitute the  full  round  of  the  Church's  mission, 
and  those  Christians  who  engage  in  them  are 
properly  "missionaries." 

Two  important  points,  however,  are  to  be 
noted  in  connection  with  this  programme: — 
first,  that  only  as  philanthropy  and  education 
are  permeated  with  and  directed  by  the  spirit 
and  power  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  they  truly  ex- 
pressions of  the  Church's  mission;  and,  sec- 
ondly, that  every  baptized  man,  woman  and 
child,  as  a  member  of  the  Church,  is  bound  to 
be  a  missionary,  i.  e.,  to  take  some  active  part 
in  Christian  Social  Service,  Religious  Educa- 
tion, or  Church  Extension. 

How  far  and  in  what  way  this  three- fold  ex- 
pression of  the  Church's  mission  is  carried 
out  depends  on  circumstances.  When  the 
Church  enters  a  heathen  or  pagan  country, 
she  has  to  perform  her  mission  unaided  by  any 
institutions  about  her.  It  may  be  that  the  best 
opening  is  through  preaching,  the  distribution 
of  Christian  literature,  or  some  other  form  of 

61 


The  Church's  Life 

making  the  Gospel  known.  This  is  Evangel- 
isation. Or  it  may  be  that  the  work  of  a  phy- 
sician presents  the  best  opportunity  at  the  mo- 
ment; or  possibly  a  hold  can  best  be  secured 
upon  the  children,  and,  through  them,  their 
parents  be  attracted,  by  means  of  a  Christian 
school.  Here  are  Social  Service  and  Religious 
Education.  But,  however  the  work  starts,  it 
must  eventually  include  ministry  to  the  whole 
of  life — Body,  Mind  and  Soul;  hence  the  typ- 
ical mission  station  in  the  foreign  field,  when 
developed,  will  include,  as  a  minimum,  a  church 
building,  a  school  and  a  hospital,  or  at  least 
some  representation  of  all  of  these  activities. 
In  the  domestic  field  the  case  is  somewhat 
different,  and,  while  the  theory  remains  the 
same,  its  application  may  have  to  be  modified. 
The  controlling  factor  which  obliges  the 
Church,  when  establishing  herself  in  a  foreign 
field,  to  provide  medical  service  and  education 
as  well  as  churches,  is  of  course  the  lack  of  any 
such  agencies  having  a  Christian  foundation 
and  motive,  and,  in  many  cases  of  any  such 
agencies  at  all.  In  China,  e.  g.,  the  first 
Christian  missionaries  found  no  facilities  for 
education  along  useful  lines,  and  Chinese  med- 
ical practice  was  worse  than  useless.  The  lack 
had  to  be  supplied.  Modern  Japan  has  estab- 
lished an  admirable  public  school  system,  and 
her  medical  practice  is  of  the  very  best,  but 
the  Christian  motive  is,  of  course,  lacking. 
Both  China  and  Japan  owe  their  advance  in 

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Life  More  Abundantly 

public  education  and  medical  science  to  the  ex- 
ample and  teaching  of  Christian  missions,  but 
in  both  instances  the  Christian  motive  is  want- 
ing, and  I  repeat  again  that  if  medical  science 
and  education  are  to  fulfil  their  ultimate  aim, 
they  must  be  built  upon  and  permeated  by  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Christ.  Deprived  of  that, 
the  doctor  is  comparatively  helpless,  the 
teacher  is  without  adequate  objective.  Be- 
cause China  had  neither  modern  schools  nor 
hospitals  when  the  Church  first  went  there  on 
her  mission,  she  had  to  establish  these  institu- 
tions herself,  and  this  is  true  of  all  lands  to 
which  the  Church  first  carries  her  message. 
But  in  the  United  States,  the  Government  as- 
sisted by  private  enterprise  does  provide  abun- 
dant means  for  education  and  health.  Schools 
are  everywhere;  the  country  is,  if  anything, 
overstocked  with  doctors ;  philanthropic  works 
form  a  part  of  the  social  programme  in  every 
community;  and  it  is  a  country  governed  by 
ideals  which  have  their  source  in  Christianity. 
Under  these  circumstances,  what  is  the 
Church's  duty  in  fulfilling  her  three-fold  mis- 
sion— physical,  mental  and  spiritual?  Be- 
cause the  public  school  system  is  not  definitely 
Christian,  is  she  to  follow  the  Roman  com- 
munion, and  establish  generally  her  own 
schools;  because  medical  schools  are  not  con- 
cerned with  the  religious  belief  of  their  stu- 
dents, is  the  Church  to  go  into  the  business 
of  training  doctors  and  nurses  herself  and  plac- 

63 


The  Church's  Life 

ing  them  in  her  own  hospitals?  Or  is  there 
some  other  alternative  which,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, she  ought  to  adopt?  To  these 
and  similar  questions  there  must  be  some  ade- 
quate answer  which,  as  members  of  the 
Church,  you  and  I  are  bound  to  think  out  and 
reply. 

The  Church  and  Physical  Well-being 

Taking  physical  well-being  as  the  objective 
of  social  service — hospitals  and  medical  prac- 
tice in  general,  as  an  illustration — what  re- 
ply are  we  to  give  to  the  above  questions  ? 

On  the  whole  we  would  probably  agree  that 
the  abundance  of  first-class  hospitals  in  Amer- 
ica, as  compared  with  China,  and  the  admir- 
able service  rendered  by  them  to  the  com- 
munity, make  it  unwise  for  the  Church  to 
duplicate  them  by  establishing  hospitals  of  her 
own.  Under  certain  circumstances  it  may  be 
advisable  for  a  large  institutional  parish  to 
have  its  own  free  dispensary,  or  for  the  Church 
at  large  to  maintain  a  hospital;  and  the  same 
is  true  of  homes  for  the  aged  and  infirm,  or- 
phanages, and  other  philanthropic  agencies. 
But,  as  a  rule,  there  are  plenty  of  such  insti- 
tutions established  by  the  State  or  through 
public  or  private  enterprise.  This  fact,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  implies  that  Church  people 
are  free  from  responsibility  in  the  matter.  On 
the  contrary,  such  institutions  present  one  of 

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Life  More  Abundantly 

the  most  fruitful  fields  for  missionary  work  on 
the  part  of  Christians.  If  Christ,  with  the 
limited  and  narrow  opportunities  which  His 
surroundings  presented,  was  constantly  and 
actively  interested  in  the  physical  welfare  of 
people  about  Him,  it  is  all  the  more  incumbent 
upon  us,  His  followers,  with  facilities  enor- 
mously increased,  to  make  every  possible  use 
of  those  facilities.  It  is  the  obvious  duty  of 
the  Christian  layman  to  seize  every  opportu- 
nity, with  the  Lord  Himself  as  his  Companion, 
to  carry  to  the  sick,  the  suffering  and  the  de- 
spondent the  encouragement  and  good  cheer 
of  his  own  abundant  life.  Ready  access,  un- 
der proper  restrictions,  is  usually  obtainable, 
and  there  is  no  more  useful  outlet  for  Chris- 
tian sympathy  and  helpfulness  than  frequent 
visits  to  those  less  fortunate  than  ourselves; 
nor  is  there  any  work  more  richly  rewarded. 
Such  practical  mercy  "is  twice  bless'd;  it  bless- 
eth  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes  ...  it 
is  an  attribute  to  God  Himself." 

There  is  another  approach  to  this  matter 
which  Christians  should  carefully  consider. 
Hospitals,  Social  Settlements,  etc., — even  those 
established  by  the  Church  herself — show  a  de- 
plorable tendency  to  become  secularized  or  at 
least  to  admit  the  presence  of  Christ  only  on 
sufferance,  as  it  were.  At  least  it  is  rare,  ex- 
cept among  Roman  Catholics,  to  find  that 
Presence  recognized  and  relied  upon  to  any 
great  degree,  in  hospital-management  or  prac- 

65 


The  Church's  Life 

tice,  among  patients  or  staff.  This  fact  is  the 
more  striking  when  we  consider  our  Lord's 
prominence  in  healing  as  in  all  works  of  mercy, 
and  the  further  fact  that  practically  every 
modern  philanthropic  enterprise  owes  its  or- 
igin to  the  Church,  and  was  at  one  time  re- 
garded as  a  special  function  of  the  Church. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  inquire  here  how  the 
Church  came  to  relinquish  a  work  peculiarly 
her  own ;  but  it  is  pertinent  to  ask  whether,  in 
view  of  the  secularizing  tendency  in  modern 
medical  and  other  philanthropic  work,  and  the 
development  of  medical  science  and  practice 
on  a  materialistic  basis,  a  serious  obligation 
does  not  rest  upon  every  Christian  to  bring  his 
personal  influence  and  example  to  bear  upon 
the  situation,  to  the  end  that  Christ  Himself 
shall  walk  the  hospital  wards  in  the  fullness  of 
His  strength  and  comfort;  and,  further,  that 
every  prospective  medical  student  be  shown 
the  example  of  Christ — the  Source  of  life  and 
health;  and  his  own  need  of  Christ,  in  the 
daily  practice  of  his  profession,  not  only  for 
himself  but  for  his  patients.  The  Christian 
physician  or  surgeon  has  opportunities  for  mis- 
sionary service  unequalled  in  any  other  voca- 
tion. Of  all  men,  the  doctor  has  most  need  to 
be  a  Christian. 

But  there  is  still  another  and  most  vitally 
important  aspect  of  this  matter  to  be  consid- 
ered, if  we  are  convinced  that  the  practice  and 
teaching  of  our  Lord  and  His  immediate  fol- 

66 


Life  More  Abundantly 

lowers  are  guides  for  the  Church  today.  A 
full  discussion  of  the  direct  action  of  the  power 
of  Christ,  through  faith,  to  the  healing  of  dis- 
ease may  well  be  left  to  wiser  heads  than  ours. 
But  the  following  facts  are  plain  enough :  Our 
Lord  healed  those  who  were  willing  to  be 
healed,  and  who  had  faith  in  His  ability  (St. 
Matt.  9:28-30;  13:55-58;  St.  Mark  9:22-29). 
This  was  done,  sometimes  privately  (St.  Mark 
7:32-34),  more  often  publicly  (St.  Mark  1 :32- 
34) ;  sometimes  with  a  visible  act  (St.  Luke 
13:12,  13 ;  St.  John  9 :6,  7) ;  sometimes  at  a  dis- 
tance and  with  no  physical  contact  (St.  Matt. 
15:22-28;  St.  Luke  7:2-10).  In  some  cases  an 
act  of  prayer  on  His  part  is  either  stated  or 
implied  (e.  g.,  St.  John  11  41-44),  though  it  is 
doubtful  whether,  in  His  constant  life  of 
prayer,  any  request  for  healing  power  in  a 
specific  case  was  needed.  He  recognized,  in 
certain  stated  instances  at  least,  that  disease 
was  of  Satan,  or  his  agents  (St.  Luke  13:16; 
St.  Matt.  12:22,  28.  Cf.  also  11  Cor.  127); 
when  He  instructed  His  disciples  regarding 
their  mission,  and  sent  them  out,  He  associated 
healing  of  the  sick  with  the  casting  out  of  dev- 
ils (St.  Matt.  10:8;  St.  Luke  10:17-20).  He 
promised  His  disciples  further,  that  the  power 
manifested  through  them  should  exceed  even 
that  which  they  had  seen  in  Him  (St.  John 
14:12).  After  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  previously,  though  now  in  greater  measure, 
this  power  became  manifest   in  miracles   of 

67 


The  Church's  Life 

healing  wrought  through  the  Apostles  and 
others  working  in  Christ's  Name.  It  is  im- 
plied that  even  their  shadow  passing  over  the 
sick  had  a  healing  effect,  and  that  the  same 
effect  was  produced  by  articles  of  apparel 
which  had  been  in  contact  with  them  (Acts 
5:15;  19:11-12.    Cf.  St.  Matt.  14:36). 

These  extraordinary  and  "special"  demon- 
strations of  power  seem  to  become  less  fre- 
quent as  the  period  covered  by  the  Book  of 
Acts  draws  to  a  close;  but  as  the  Church  be- 
came more  fully  organized,  we  find  that  one 
of  her  many  functions  was  that  of  healing, 
and  that  this  function  was  concentrated  in  cer- 
tain individuals,  especially  the  presbyters  (1 
Cor.  12:28;  Jas.  5:14,  15).  This  quotation 
from  St.  James  indicates  that,  by  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  century,  the  presbyters 
were  accustomed  to  exercise  a  definite  method 
of  healing  through  prayer  and  anointing  with 
oil,  with  probably  the  laying  on  of  hands.  This 
is  quite  in  accord  with  what  we  are  told  in 
the  earliest  of  the  Gospels  (St.  Mark  6:13; 
16:18). 

This  brief  survey  is  sufficient  for  our  pres- 
ent purpose,  and  if  we  believe  that  Christ  is 
actually  with  His  Church  today,  in  the  fulness 
of  His  power,  the  question  naturally  occurs, 
Why  has  the  Church  not  taken  full  advantage 
of  this  power?  Healing  the  sick  was  a  nor- 
mal expression  of  our  Lord's  ministry,,  and 
was  accepted  as  a  normal  and  ordered  func- 

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Life  More  Abundantly 

tion  of  the  early  Church.  Whatever  Christ 
Himself  did  on  earth  should  surely  be  pos- 
sible of  accomplishment,  through  all  time,  by 
His  Church  in  which  He  still  lives,  "the  same 
yesterday,  today  and  for  ever."  If  He  was 
the  source  of  life  and  health  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, why  not  in  the  twentieth  ?  Of  course  He 
would  be  if  the  Church  had  retained  her  active 
faith  in  His  power,  and  if  the  whole  of  med- 
ical practice  were  based  on  the  belief  in  it. 
But  so  long  as  the  Church  regards  the  work 
of  an  accredited,  devout  and  successful  agent 
of  Christ  in  the  ministry  of  healing  as  an  ex- 
traordinary and  "pentecostal"  thing,  rather 
than  as  the  normal  action  of  Christ  through 
His  Church,  just  so  long  will  our  Lord  be  able 
to  do  no  mighty  work,  save  healing  a  few  sick 
folk;  and  this,  because  of  our  unbelief  at  which 
He  marvels  (St.  Mark  6:5,  6). 

But  let  it  be  noted  here  that  while  the  heal- 
ing power  of  God  may  evidently  be  transmitted 
through  any  devout  and  faithful  person  (for 
who  would  dare  limit  the  grace  of  God?),  yet 
in  the  early  Church  God's  power  to  heal  was 
manifested  through  ordained  men  and  in  sac- 
ramental form — that  is,  the  "inward  and  spir- 
itual grace"  (faith  and  healing)  was  signified 
by  an  "outward  and  visible  form"  (the  touch 
of  presbyters  and  the  oil  of  anointing).  We 
thank  God  for  his  rich  gifts  through  any  and 
every  agency,  but  if  we  would  experience  His 
power  to  the  full,  should  we  not  permit  Him  to 

69 


The  Church's  Life 

use  His  appointed  means,  rather  than  oblige 
Him  to  resort  to  extraordinary  ones? 

If,  again,  God  in  Christ  is  the  source  of  life 
and  health,  it  would  seem  apparent  that  med- 
ical science  and  attention  to  the  laws  of  hy- 
giene, though  they  may  indirectly  supplement 
the  work  of  God  and  further  serve  as  a  warn- 
ing against  disregard  of  His  laws,  can  never 
supplant  His  direct  action.  God  has  always 
taught  His  people  that  He  works  among  men 
only  by  man's  cooperation,  as  witness  the  mi- 
nute instructions  regarding  hygiene  given, 
through  Moses,  to  the  Jews,  and  resulting  in 
an  extraordinarily  high  standard  of  physical 
well-being  in  that  race.  Who  can  doubt,  also, 
that  the  modern  advance  in  medical  science 
and  surgical  skill  is  the  gift  of  God  whose  de- 
sire is  the  development  of  man's  mental  pow- 
ers? But,  granting  all  this,  it  is  a  serious 
question  whether,  in  view  of  our  Lord's  exam- 
ple as  a  healer,  the  Church  today  is  not  disre- 
garding a  very  important  part  of  her  ministry, 
and  whether  she  is  not  making  a  grave  mistake 
in  entrusting  the  health  of  her  people  to  those 
who  tacitly  or  deliberately  eliminate  God  in 
their  practice.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  aver- 
age medical  practitioner  of  today  is  a  materi- 
alist, and  is  inclined  to  regard  faith  in  the 
power  of  God  to  heal  as  unworthy  of  serious 
consideration  in  practice.  Happily,  this  whole 
matter  is  now  beginning  to  receive  the  atten- 
tion which  it  deserves,  and  it  is  worthy  of 

70 


Life  More  Abundantly 

note  that  the  communion  which  has,  in  the 
highest  degree,  retained  the  faith  and  order 
of  the  early  Church,  is  also  the  one  which  is 
most  prominently  taking  the  lead  in  a  possi- 
ble return  to  the  practice  of  the  early  Church 
regarding  the  healing  of  the  sick.  \ 

The  Church  and  Education 

The  American  type  of  democracy  rightly 
demands  that  there  be  a  sharp  boundary  be- 
tween the  function  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
State,  which  neither  may  pass.  Thus  public 
education  is  a  function  of  the  State,  and  the 
Church,  as  such,  must  not  interfere.  Public 
worship  is  a  function  of  the  Church,  and  with 
it  the  State  has  no  concern.*  This  is  quite  as 
it  should  be.  Most  of  us  would  be  absolutely 
opposed  to  intrusting  our  children  to  the  State 
for  instruction  in  matters  of  religion  and  faith. 
Yet,  as  Christians,  we  are  agreed  that  religious 
instruction,  concerned  as  it  is  with  ultimate 
truth  and  the  soul's  well-being,  is  of  far  more 
importance  than  so-called  secular  instruction. 
How  are  American  children  to  acquire  it?  Of 
course  one  obvious  answer  is,  In  the  home. 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  home  as  a  center 


*  It  may  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  of  late  years,  in  times 
of  epidemic  or  through  a  strict  interpretation  of  extreme 
regulations  regarding  the  use  of  alcohol,  the  State  has  shown 
a  tendency  to  overstep  the  boundary  and  to  interfere  un- 
warrantably with  the  Church  in  matters  of  custom  and  even 
of  faith. 

71 


The  Church's  Life 

of  religious  life,  is  not  what  it  used  to  be. 
Family  prayer,  grace  before  meals,  united 
reading  and  study  of  the  Bible — these  are  be- 
coming more  and  more  of  a  rarity  even  in 
nominally  Christian  homes.  Indeed,  the  aver- 
age Christian  parents  are  too  ignorant  them- 
selves of  the  fundamentals  of  religion  to  give 
their  children  any  proper  instruction — a  fact 
which  is,  in  itself,  an  arraignment  of  the 
Church  as  a  teacher.  Hence  the  Church,  in 
this  dilemma,  started  Sunday  schools,  or 
Church  schools  as  they  are  being  called  today, 
to  supplement  the  religious  teaching,  or  lack 
of  it,  in  the  home.  Such  as  they  are,  these 
schools  have  served  a  valuable  purpose,  but 
no  one  could  possibly  claim  that  they  have  fully 
met  the  need.  A  present  indifferent  and  ig- 
norant laity  is  the  sufficient  indictment  of  the 
Sunday  school  as  it  has  been  conducted  in  the 
past.  The  manner  of  it  is  sufficiently  famil- 
iar. For  an  hour  or  less,  once  a  week,  those 
children  who  could  be  induced  to  come  volun- 
tarily or  who  were  forced  by  their  parents  to 
attend,  received  more  or  less  desultory  and 
fragmentary  instruction  from  volunteer  teach- 
ers who  were  themselves,  in  many  cases,  so 
ill-instructed  that  they  had  to  cram  up  each 
lesson  in  advance  or  be  coached  by  the  rector. 
The  sessions  of  the  school  lacked  enforced  dis- 
cipline; often  they  presented  the  confusion  of 
a  menagerie;  they  rarely  afforded  the  slight- 
est opportunity  for  serious  study;  their  pro- 

72 


Life  More  Abundantly 

gramme  was  a  picture-puzzle  with  no  time  to 
put  it  together.  In  some  great  institutional 
parish,  or  through  the  unaided  genius  of  some 
one  superintendent,  a  partially  effective  Sun- 
day school  has  been  developed  here  and  there 
— that  is,  effective  as  compared  with  the  aver- 
age Sunday  school,  not  as  compared  with  any 
real  educational  institution.  But  on  the  whole 
we  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  Sunday  school, 
for  years,  has  been  such  an  exhibition  of  in- 
competency and  haphazard  methods  that  com- 
petent people  have  looked  upon  the  teaching  of 
a  Sunday  school  class  as  an  activity  unworthy 
of  their  energies.  Worse  still,  the  children 
themselves  unconsciously  note  a  contrast. 
They  see  the  day  school  with  its  obligatory  and 
universal  attendance,  its  four  or  five  hours  of 
study  daily,  its  well-trained  teachers,  its  prac- 
tical bearing  upon  the  activities  of  life.  The 
contrast  between  this  and  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  the  average  Sunday  school  is  too 
glaring  to  escape  the  sharp  minds  of  children. 
No  wonder  that  to  the  mind  of  the  average 
child,  as  to  that  of  his  parents,  religion  and 
the  fundamentals  of  religious  faith  and  experi- 
ence are  Sunday  affairs  only,  and  that  religious 
education  bears  no  comparison  in  importance 
with  secular  education. 

This  deplorable  state  of  things  was  per- 
mitted to  continue,  partly  because  people 
seemed  to  have  become  dulled  to  the  practical 
and  every-day  importance  of  a  knowledge  of 

73 


The  Church's  Life 

God,  especially  when  imparted  to  children  at 
their  most  impressionable  age;  and  partly  to 
the  fact  that  while  the  principles  of  modern 
psychology  and  pedagogy  were  rapidly  modi- 
fying the  methods  of  secular  education,  there 
were  very  few  apparently  to  whom  the  possi- 
bility ever  occurred  that  these  principles  might 
be  equally  applicable  to  religious  education. 
Perhaps  an  excuse  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  in  the  main  features  of  the  average  Sun- 
day school,  it  was  difficult  to  recognize  any  re- 
semblance to  an  educational  institution. 

Within  the  past  few  years,  however,  within 
the  Episcopal  Church  and  largely  owing  to  the 
efforts  of  the  General  Board  of  Religious  Ed- 
ucation, the  Church  school  is  developing  into 
something  really  worth  while.  The  demand  is 
becoming  insistent  that  teachers  be  thoroughly 
trained  for  their  task;  definite  system,  care- 
fully planned  on  approved  modern  lines,  is  tak- 
ing the  place  of  the  lack  of  any  system  what- 
ever; and  to  the  regular  instruction  in  the 
school  are  being  added  week-day  activities  as 
the  logical  outcome  and  expression  of  the  les- 
sons taught. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  religious 
education  of  children  should,  of  course,  inform 
themselves  regarding  the  so-called  Gary  Plan, 
whereby  children  in  the  public  schools  are  per- 
mitted, during  certain  school  hours,  to  receive 
religious  instruction  under  the  auspices  of  their 
various  communions,  such  instruction  being  ac- 

74 


Life  More  Abundantly 

cepted  for  credit  by  the  school  authorities. 
But  I  am  interested  here  primarily  with  the 
Church  school  as  an  increasingly  attractive  and 
valuable  means  of  religious  education,  and  one 
which  is  supremely  worthy  of  active  coopera- 
tion on  the  part  of  men  and  women  who  are 
capable  of  directing  their  missionary  efforts 
along  the  lines  of  a  more  abundant  mental  life 
for  children.  Naturally,  however,  such  ef- 
forts must  not  be  limited  to  children.  For 
adults,  there  is  the  Bible  Class,  and  all  forms 
of  Mission  Study  Classes.  Possibly  the  time 
may  arrive  when  the  Church  school  shall  be- 
come so  complete  an  answer  to  the  need  for  re- 
ligious education,  and  shall  so  thoroughly  com- 
mend itself  to  the  common-sense  of  all  Church 
people,  that  attendance  will  no  longer  be  con- 
sidered derogatory  at  any  age,  and  that  the 
curriculum  will  include  instruction  in  the 
Church's  mission  and  cognate  topics,  such  as 
will  be  deemed  essential  to  every  Churchman's 
education.  When  that  time  comes  we  shall 
see  a  development  of  religious  intelligence  and 
activity  undreamed  of  at  present;  but,  mean- 
time, the  obvious  duty  of  every  Churchman, 
if  he  be,  or  can  be  made,  capable  of  it,  is  to 
fulfil  one  phase  of  his  missionary  obligation 
through  leadership  in  the  Church  school  or  in 
connection  with  Bible  or  Mission  Study  for 
adults. 

I  have  taken  Hospitals  and  Schools  as  illus- 
trations of  Social  Service  and  Religious  Edu- 

75 


The  Church's  Life 

cation — of  Christian  ministry  to  the  bodies  and 
minds  of  men.  But  this  one  illustration  of 
Social  Service  is  manifestly  only  one.  In  a 
Christian  land,  unlike  a  pagan,  there  are  count- 
less philanthropic  agencies  giving  an  opportu- 
nity for  definitely  Christian  cooperation  on  the 
part  of  every  one.  But,  no  more  than  in  the 
case  of  hospitals,  does  this  fact  lessen  the  de- 
gree of  personal  Christian  opportunity  and  ob- 
ligation. Not  only  hospitals,  but  homes  for 
the  aged  and  infirm,  asylums,  orphanages, 
agencies  for  the  protection  of  womanhood,  to 
say  nothing  of  reformatories,  jails  and  pris- 
ons— these,  and  countless  other  institutions 
are  within  the  field  of  missionary  activity  on 
the  part  of  Christians.  The  same  reasoning 
applies  to  them  in  general  as  we  have  applied 
specifically  in  the  case  of  the  hospital.  They 
too,  tend  to  become  merely  "institutional"  and 
therefore  secular  and  Christless.  They  too, 
need  the  constant  interest  and  the  active  co- 
operation of  sanely  Christian  people  who  bring 
with  them  the  presence  of  our  gracious  Lord. 
For  we  can  not  too  frequently  remind  our- 
selves that  He  gave  Himself  to  the  work  of 
philanthropy ;  He  did  not  turn  it  over,  nor  did 
He  recommend  turning  it  over  to  an  "insti- 
tution." And  I  repeat  again  that  mere  philan- 
thropy, apart  from  personal  contact  with 
Christ,  always  fails  of  the  highest  objective 
— the  ministry  to  the  soul. 

Happily  in  these  days,  social  service  of  all 
76 


Life  More  Abundantly 

kinds  is  so  well  organized  that  the  necessity 
for  individual  initiative  in  good  works,  with  its 
inevitable  mistakes  and  discouragements,  is 
not  as  great  as  it  once  was.  In  practically 
every  community  the  individual  who  desires 
to  serve  along  these  lines  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  other  like-minded  people  who 
are  already  organized  for  a  similar  purpose. 
The  Associated  Charities;  the  various  organ- 
izations for  Service,  patriotic  and  otherwise; 
Immigration  Bureaus;  Juvenile  Courts,  and 
countless  other  organizations,  national  and 
local,  afford  abundant  opportunity  for  Chris- 
tian ministry,  in  association  with  others,  to  the 
physical  and  moral  needs  of  the  people 
about  us. 

Finally,  it  should  go  without  saying  that 
citizenship  in  a  Christian  democracy  requires 
that  every  citizen  be  familiar  with  general  so- 
cial conditions  in  his  own  community.  The 
housing  of  the  people,  the  public  schools,  the 
charitable  and  penal  institutions  of  the  town 
should  be  matters  of  concern,  of  active  interest, 
and  constructive  criticism.  To  find  fault  with 
existing  conditions,  purely  on  the  basis  of  hear- 
say, and  to  blame  the  city  or  the  State  or  the 
Church  for  abuses  which  could  be  minimized 
if  individual  citizens  would  first  find  out  the 
actual  facts  and  then  seek  to  remedy  the  con- 
dition by  intelligent  and  united  action — these 
are  faults  peculiar  to  a  democracy  where  the 
temptation  is  to  regard  State  and  Church  more 

77 


THe  Church's  Life 

or  less  like  two  locomotives  running  on  sepa- 
rate clear  and  level  tracks,  well  supplied  with 
fuel,  and  with  expert  train-crews  requiring  no 
watching.  It  is  sometimes  forgotten  that  en- 
gines require  the  best  fuel  and  plenty  of  it; 
that  even  expert  engineers  occasionally  make 
mistakes,  that  signals  are  not  always  set  at 
"safety,"  that  the  destination  of  the  two  trains 
is  the  same  and  that  if  they  were  on  the  same 
well-laid  track,  one  pushing  and  the  other  pull- 
ing up  the  steep  up-grade,  they  might  bring 
the  train  to  its  objective  point  on  schedule 
time. 

The  term  "general  social  conditions"  surely 
includes  also  all  questions  pertaining  to  the  re- 
lation between  labor  and  capital.  Nowadays 
no  one  can  claim  to  be  well-educated  in  a  so- 
cial sense  who  allows  himself  to  remain  ig- 
norant of  the  theories  underlying  social  jus- 
tice, and  of  the  conditions  which  make  for  the 
opposite ;  nor  can  any  one  be  called  truly  Chris- 
tian who  is  not  striving  according  to  his  abil- 
ity to  help  the  one  and  defeat  the  other  through 
proper  legislation,  and,  more  effectively  still, 
by  personal  investigation,  active  example  and 
individual  sympathy.  Nor  should  it  be  for- 
gotten that  the  evils  connected  with  present 
social  conditions  are  not  confined  to  the  slums 
of  our  great  cities  or  to  the  centers  of  indus- 
trial life.  The  lack  of  the  simplest  rules  of 
morality  and  decency  in  many  rural  parts  of 
these  "Christian"  United  States  is  appalling. 

78 


Life  More  Abundantly 

The  bulk  of  the  population  in  vast  areas  of  our 
country  is  as  truly  pagan  as  if  America  were 
China.  Everywhere  there  is  the  need  of  put- 
ting into  effect  the  social  teaching  of  Christ. 
The  wonder  of  the  principles  which  He  taught 
and  practiced  is  that  after  the  lapse  of  two 
thousand  years  and  under  conditions  so  pro- 
foundly changed,  they  yet  remain  absolutely 
practicable.  Wherever  they  have  been  ap- 
plied in  even  the  smallest  degree  they  have, 
to  that  extent,  proved  to  be  the  best,  and  in- 
deed the  only  practical  solution,  of  every  so- 
cial problem — the  remedy  for  every  social  ill. 
It  is  therefore  supremely  incumbent  upon  us, 
as  Christians,  to  make  these  principles  our 
chief  study,  and  then  to  apply  them  with  all 
diligence  and  confidence,  knowing  that  only  as 
we  follow  in  His  steps  shall  we  find  the  dim  and 
arduous  track  leading  to  the  City  of  God. 

To  sum  up  our  conclusions  then:  The 
Church,  as  the  living  Body  of  Christ,  has  a 
three-fold  mission  on  earth.  Her  privilege 
and  her  duty  are  to  provide  every  man,  woman 
and  child  with  an  opportunity  to  become  a 
sharer  in  a  more  abundant  form  of  life,  inci- 
dentally for  the  body  and  the  mind,  but  pri- 
marily and  supremely  for  the  soul,  wrhereby 
man  is  raised  above  the  plane  of  mere  human- 
ity into  membership  in  the  Family  of  God,  and 
eternal  life  is  imparted  and  maintained  here 
and  now.  This  three-fold  mission  of  the 
Church  is  expressed  in  the  terms  Social  Serv- 

79 


The  Church's  Life 

ice,  Religious  Education  and  Evangelism  or 
Church  Extension.  Since  Christ  Himself  is 
today — as  always — the  Way,  the  Truth  and 
the  Life,  no  form  of  philanthropy  or  of  edu- 
cation which  fails  to  claim  and  utilize  His  ac- 
tive and  personal  cooperation  can  be  com- 
pletely effective.  It  follows  that  the  Church 
must  see  to  it  that  social  service  is  fundamen- 
tally and  distinctly  Christian ;  that  the  impart- 
ing of  a  knowledge  of  God  as  revealed  in  Christ 
is  one  of  her  chief  functions;  and  that  it  is  her 
main  privilege  to  bear  the  message  of  eternal 
life,  through  Christ,  into  every  corner  of  the 
earth,  especially  where  the  need  of  His  abun- 
dant life  is  greatest.  Finally,  since  the 
Church  is  composed  of  individual  members, 
each  sharing  in  the  life  of  the  whole,  each  hav- 
ing his  special  function  in  the  whole  Body,  each 
sharing  in  a  common  responsibility  toward  the 
whole,  and  to  all  mankind  apart  from  the  Body 
but  capable  of  union  with  it,  it  is  manifestly 
the  duty  of  every  member  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary through  active  participation  in  one  or 
more  features  of  the  Church's  three-fold  mis- 
sion in  his  own  community,  and  to  the  world 
at  large.*  Only  as  every  member  realizes 
this  ideal  will  the  Kingdom  of  God  come  and 
His  will  be  done,  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

*  In  this  connection,  two  definitions  may  be  found  of  value. 
Bishop  Gore  defines  "the  world"  (as  that  term  is  used  in  the 
New  Testament)  as  "Society  organized  apart  from  God." 
The  word  "Religion"  may  be  defined  as  "A  knowledge  of 
God  influencing  the  conduct  of  man." 

80 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MODEL  MISSIONARY 

We  have  seen  thus  far  that  the  message 
which  Jesus  Christ  proclaimed  to  men  was  a 
message  of  possible  life,  richer  and  fuller  than 
any  before  known — a  life  dependent  upon 
union  with  Him,  the  source  of  life;  attained 
normally  through  Baptism;  maintained  by  the 
Holy  Communion  and  other  means  of  grace 
(literally,  channels  of  gifts)  ;  powerfully  af- 
fecting every  manifestation  of  life — physical, 
mental  and  spiritual;  and  transmissible,  pri- 
marily and  directly  from,  the  Source  itself,  but 
secondarily  and  indirectly  through  every  new- 
born child  of  God  to  those  about  him. 

It  is  important  now  to  consider  rather  more 
in  detail  the  earthly  ministry  of  Christ,  in  or- 
der to  see,  for  our  own  guidance  as  mission- 
aries, just  how  He,  the  supremely  successful 
missionary,  conducted  His  mission. 

First,  let  us  note  that  while  we  know  little 
of  the  first  thirty  years — the  passive  years,  as 
we  may  call  them  of  His  ministry — what  we 
do  know  reveals  a  character  which  must  have 
had  a  profound  influence  upon  those  about 
Him..     Obedience  to  those  in  immediate  au- 

81 


The  Church's  Life 

thority  over  Him  as  a  child  is  a  characteristic 
of  His  early  years  (St.  Luke  2:51).  Such 
implicit  filial  loyalty  and  obedience  as  is  im- 
plied in  the  phrase,  "He  was  subject  unto 
them,,,  cannot  have  failed  to  impress  His  play- 
mates in  the  village  of  Nazareth  where  every 
one  knew  every  one  else.  He  proclaimed,  not 
in  words  probably,  but  in  the  more  persuasive 
language  of  example,  the  laws  which  should 
govern  the  lives  of  children. 

Beneath  this  characteristic,  however,  and  di- 
recting it,  was  a  sense  of  a  higher  relation- 
ship. When,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  He  was 
taken  to  Jerusalem  for  His  Confirmation,  as 
we  would  say,  He  had  already  reached  the  con- 
viction that,  for  Him,  there  was  a  law  of  obedi- 
ence higher  than  that  implied  in  any  human 
relationship — an  authority  divine  and  supreme. 
However  we  read  the  words,  "Knew  ye  not 
that  I  must  be  in  my  Father's  house'' — or, 
"about  my  Father's  business" — or,  "in  the 
things  of  my  Father,"  the  meaning  is  equally 
clear.  Of  course  He  is  speaking  not  of 
Joseph  but  of  God.  To  God  He  owes  the 
obedience  of  a  son.  The  Temple,  where  He 
delights  to  remain  searching  into  God's  law, 
is  His  heavenly  Father's  house.  It  is  God's 
business  that  calls  for  His  active  cooperation. 
As  a  child  is  owned  by  his  parents,  so  He  is 
owned  by  God.  We  may  readily  grant  that 
so  high  a  degree  of  spiritual  insight  and  self- 
dedication  is  rare  in  boys  of  twelve;  it  is  not 

82 


The  Model  Missionary- 
unique,  however ;  it  should  be  a  matter  of  com- 
mon experience,  prayed  for,  hoped  for,  counted 
upon. 

St.  Luke  sums  up  the  character  of  the  boy- 
Jesus  in  a  few  striking  phrases:  "The  child 
grew,  and  waxed  strong  (in  spirit),  filled  with 
wisdom;  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon  him.,, 
"And  Jesus  advanced  (increased)  in  wisdom 
and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man" 
(St.  Luke  2:40  and  52).  If  I  had  a  son  whom 
I  had  not  seen  for  many  years  and  from  whom 
I  had  not  heard ;  and  a  friend,  having  seen  him 
recently,  should  bring  me  news  of  him  simply 
in  the  terms  quoted  above,  I  would  desire  no 
more.  I  would  be  assured  that,  wherever  he 
was,  whatever  doing,  he  was  exemplifying  to 
all  about  him  the  normal  life  of  a  son  of  God 
— not  needing  "conversion"  but  growing  nat- 
urally and  healthfully,  increasing  in  all  that 
makes  men  wise,  vigorous  in  character,  popu- 
lar among  his  fellows  and  influencing  them  for 
good,  and  manifestly  directed  by  the  presence 
of  God.  Such  a  life,  however  quietly  lived,  is 
the  perfect  fulfilment  of  a  man's  mission. 
First,  then,  let  it  be  noted  that  even  as  a  child, 
our  Lord  performed  a  missionary  service — 
He  was  a  Home  missionary.  I  wonder 
whether  our  Lord's  constant  attendance  upon 
the  synagogue  worship  and  instruction,  not 
only  as  a  child  but  as  a  grown  man,  was  not 
an  important  factor  in  His  development.  He 
certainly  showed,  throughout  His  life,  a  mas- 

83 


The  Church's  Life 

terly  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
such  as  few  of  us  possess.  If  this  be  so,  why 
is  membership  in  a  Sunday-school  class  sup- 
posed to  be  rather  derogatory  in  the  case  of 
young  men  and  women  today? 

The  record  of  His  life  between  the  ages  of 
twelve  and  thirty  is  still  more  meagre.  In- 
deed, nothing  is  known  regarding  those  eight- 
een years,  except  that  after  Joseph's  unre- 
corded death,  He  succeeded  him  as  the  village 
carpenter  (St.  Mark  6:3).  This  is  enough, 
however,  to  have  stamped  forever  with  divine 
approval  and  with  dignity  the  simplest  man- 
ual labor.  And  who  can  doubt  but  that  the 
young  laborer  put  into  His  commonest  work 
all  the  skill  of  which  He  was  capable?  No 
skimping  of  a  job,  with  Him;  no  parsimonious 
counting  of  the  hours  of  work;  no  mere  eye- 
service — alert  before  His  employer,  indifferent 
when  not  watched;  no  merely  superficial  ex- 
cellence in  His  work;  no  trying  to  make  bad 
workmanship  or  material  pass  for  good!  Of 
all  this  we  may  be  sure,  knowing  His  character 
as  a  boy  and  the  integrity  of  His  later  life. 
Knowing  it,  we  may  justly  conclude  that, 
through  watching  Him,  His  fellow-townsmen 
heard  the  high  call  to  a  more  honest  perform- 
ance of  all  daily  labor,  as  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Secondly  then,  our  Lord,  even  in  the  seclusion 
of  a  country  village,  proved  Himself  an  In- 
dustrial missionary.  Again,  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth was  well-known  as  a  regular  church- 

84 


The  Model  Missionary 

goer,  sometimes  taking  the  leadership  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  Service  (St.  Luke  4:16).  I 
wonder  if  this  constant  practice  was  without 
its  effect  on  His  neighbors;  and  whether  a 
similar  custom  on  our  part,  rigidly  adhered  to, 
rain  or  shine,  hot  or  cold,  at  home  or  on  vaca- 
tion, convenient  or  otherwise,  isn't  about  as 
telling  and  effective  a  form  of  missionary  work 
as  the  average  Churchman  can  perform.  At 
any  rate,  our  Lord  was  preeminently  a  mis- 
sionary through  Church  loyalty. 

At  the  age  of  about  thirty,  He  left  the  quiet 
of  His  home;  the  passive  ministry  of  His  early 
years  was  closed ;  urged  by  the  insistent  needs 
of  the  world,  and  obedient  to  His  Father's  sum- 
mons, He  entered  upon  a  ministry  of  extraor- 
dinary activity.  As  we  have  seen,  the  idea 
of  activity  is  inherent  in  the  word  "mission," 
and  our  Lord  found  Himself  burdened  with 
a  message  demanding  the  most  unresting  toil 
for  its  delivery. 

The  Roman  province  of  Palestine  was  a 
small  area  measured  in  terms  of  our  own  facil- 
ities for  getting  about  rapidly  and  conven- 
iently. But  in  the  first  century,  it  was  no  light 
task  for  a  traveller  without  money  and  obliged 
to  do  practically  all  of  his  travel  on  foot,  to 
cover  an  area  measuring  65  miles  by  35,  or 
about  the  size  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  Such 
was  our  Lord's  own  home-district  of  Galilee, 
and  He  made  no  less  than  eight  circuits  of  this 
district  during  the  three  years  of  His  active 

85 


The  Church's  Life 

ministry.  Besides  this,  He  visited  Samaria; 
Judaea,  at  least  three  times;  and  the  two  half- 
Gentile  regions  in  the  extreme  north — Caesarea 
Philippi  and  Phcenice.  Truly  an  Itinerant 
missionary,  tireless  under  the  spur  of  His  mis- 
sion. In  this  He  was  in  striking  contrast  with 
His  immediate  predecessor,  John  the  Baptizer, 
as  well  as  with  that  other  famous  teacher — 
Gautama  the  Buddha — five  centuries  earlier. 
The  Buddha  and  John  allowed  themselves  to 
be  sought  out  by  men ;  Christ  sought  men  out. 
The  opening  chapter  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel 
will  always  be  one  of  the  most  important  bits 
of  writing  in  existence;  for  in  it  is  given  an 
account  of  a  single  and  complete  day  in  our 
Lord's  life,  from  one  morning  until  the  next. 
Here  are  given  not  only  His  methods  of  work, 
but  the  principles  which  underlay  His  mission- 
ary activity.  One  of  these  latter  is  evidently 
the  covering  of  as  much  ground  as  possible.  He 
taught  briefly  in  the  morning,  and  allowed 
Himself  to  be  interrupted  in  order  to  cure  a 
man  apparently  insane.  The  teaching  over,  He 
goes  home  and,  finding  His  host's  mother-in- 
law  in  bed  with  a  fever,  He  heals  her.  After 
dinner,  the  news  having  gone  about,  He  is  be- 
sieged by  sick  and  insane  people  until  night- 
fall. He  snatches  a  few  hours'  sleep  and  then, 
long  before  morning,  He  is  off  to  the  hills  for 
the  re-creation  of  prayer.  The  crowds  follow. 
Never  was  there  such  need  on  people's  part, 
such  opportunity  for  helpfulness  on  His.    Ca- 

86 


The  Model  Missionary 

pernaum  is  a  place  of  great  importance;  the 
stage  is  set  for  an  overwhelming  impression; 
let  Him  win  that  city,  and  Galilee  is  His;  and 
not  the  Galileans  only  but  possibly  more  than 
one  of  the  official  family  of  Herod  himself. 
He  is  immensely  popular — His  excited  follow- 
ers call  out  to  Him,  "All  are  seeking  thee." 
Yet  He  isn't  in  the  least  excited  Himself. 
"Let  us  go  elsewhere  into  the  next  towns,"  He 
says,  "that  I  may  preach  there  also."  It  was 
not  that  he  had  definitely  accomplished  any- 
thing in  Capernaum,  or  that  He  saw  no  fur- 
ther opportunity  there,  or  that  the  people  there 
had  no  further  need  of  Him.  No,  He  worked 
by  method,  and  that  method  was  to  touch  for 
good  as  many  people  as  possible  in  the  brief 
time  at  His  disposal.  From  this  very  begin- 
ning to  the  bitter  end  He  was  an  Itinerant  mis- 
sionary; as  was  afterwards  said  of  Him — and 
an  enviable  testimony  it  is — He  was  the  man 
who  "went  about  doing  good"  (Acts  10:38). 
We  may  or  may  not  think  that  this  method  of 
missionary  work  is  equally  adaptable  to  mod- 
ern needs  and  conditions.  That  question  is 
not  of  immediate  concern.  All  that  we  are 
endeavoring  at  present  to  discover  is  what  kind 
of  a  missionary  Jesus  Christ  was  and  on  what 
principles  He  conducted  His  mission.  Cer- 
tainly itinerancy  was  one  of  them. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  point  out  that  our 
Lord  was  a  medical  missionary,  and  that  He 
thereby  put  his  stamp  of  approval  for  all  time 

87 


'The  Church's  Life 

upon  Christian  medical  missions.  The  chap- 
ter from  St.  Mark's  Gospel  just  referred  to  is 
a  record  of  purely  healing  work.  Indeed,  if 
the  scenes  depicted  in  that  record  were  taken 
by  themselves,  we  would  conclude  that  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  was  purely  a  healer  with  no  spe- 
cial aim  other  than  mere  philanthropy ;  yet  even 
St.  Mark  does  not  dwell  as  does  St.  Luke  upon 
this  striking  feature  of  our  Lord's  ministry. 
And  when  He  commissions  His  recently  se- 
lected Apostles,  it  is  to  heal  all  manner  of  dis- 
ease and  sickness  (St.  Matt.  10:1). 

Again  it  is  of  value  to  note  that  He  was  a 
missionary  to  all  classes  of  people  alike  and 
without  discrimination.  Not  only  was  this  a 
matter  of  principle  with  Him — a  fundamental 
way  of  accomplishing  results — but  it  seems  to 
have  been  His  choice  as  well.  St.  Luke  gives 
His  statement  of  the  principle,  followed  at  once 
by  an  example  of  His  practice  (St.  Luke  7:31- 
50).  We  know  how  constantly  He  repudiated 
the  ascetic  practice  of  John  the  Baptizer,  by 
accepting  social  courtesies  from  the  rich ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  how  gladly  and  eagerly  He 
seized  every  opportunity  to  meet  intimately 
those  from  whom  no  social  return  could  be  ex- 
pected. It  is  well  to  note,  in  both  cases,  that 
it  evidently  gave  Him,  the  keenest  pleasure  to 
meet  people  of  all  sorts;  that  He  was  quite  as 
fearless  of  contamination  from  social  and  spir- 
itual sources  as  from  physical;  he  no  more 
shrank  from  intimate  contact  with  a  despised 

88 


The  Model  Missionary- 
tax-gatherer  or  a  woman  of  notorious  ill-re- 
pute than  with  a  person  full  of  leprosy ;  He  was 
quite  as  much  at  His  ease  with  a  purse-proud, 
ill-mannered  Pharisee  as  with  a  blind  beggar. 
No  follower  of  His,  eager  to  carry  on  His 
mission,  can  be  either  a  snob,  or  one  who  pur- 
posely holds  himself  aloof  from  the  rich.  But 
in  saying  this,  one  should  add  that  the  utmost 
emphasis  should  be  placed  on  our  Lord's  ob- 
jective in  all  of  His  social  relationships ;  it  was 
never  what  He  could  get,  always  what  He 
could  give.  It  was  this  that  made  all  com- 
panionships so  safe  for  Him  and  so  valuable 
to  others. 

In  considering  how  easily  and  naturally  our 
Lord  carried  His  message  to  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  people,  and  with  the  same  simple 
definiteness,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  there 
wras  about  Him,  notwithstanding  His  broad  so- 
cial sympathy  and  appeal,  a  very  remarkable 
aloofness.  No  one  but  His  enemies  ever  took 
any  liberties  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  then  usu- 
ally to  their  discomfiture.  His  personal  dig- 
nity was  at  times  overwhelming.  None  of  His 
intimates  (no  one  except  strangers  and  the  in- 
sane) ever,  so  far  as  we  know,  called  Him  to 
His  face  by  the  sacred  name  "Jesus."  Even 
in  prayer  He  never  identified  Himself  with 
His  most  intimate  friends.  He  taught  them 
to  address  God  in  the  words  "Our  Father,,, 
but  He  never  used  that  prayer  with  them,  nor 
did  He  ever  associate  Himself  with  them  in 

89 


The  Church's  Life 

prayer  as  one  in  similar  need.  People  have  a 
tendency  to  forget  this  sometimes,  and  to 
imagine  that  familiarity  in  addressing  our 
Lord  is  an  indication  of  their  intimacy  with 
Him.  In  the  Gospels,  quite  the  reverse  is  true. 
Another  very  marked  feature  of  Christ's 
missionary  activity  was  His  teaching  and  train- 
ing of  native  workers.  Of  course  it  may  have 
been  merely  the  physical  impossibility  of  cov- 
ering the  ground  Himself  which  made  Him  se- 
lect helpers,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  there  was 
a  deeper  motive  than  that  underlying  that  ac- 
tion. If  the  future  Church  was  to  be  a  living 
organism — the  projection,  in  the  world,  of 
Christ  Himself — a  living  witness  to  Him,  car- 
rying on  His  message  of  life  to  the  world — 
then  there  was  need  of  men  and  women,  not 
only  to  bear  the  message,  but  to  transmit  the 
life.  In  other  words,  provision  had  to  be  made 
then,  provision  must  be  made  now,  for  the 
building  up  of  a  native  Church  instinct  with 
the  vitality  of  Christ  Himself.  It  is  not 
enough  for  even  God  Himself  merely  to  be 
present  in  the  world;  His  presence  must  be 
manifested  and  He  Himself  made  known  by 
and  through  His  visible  Body.  Therefore  our 
Lord  trained  these  workers,  and  breathed  into 
them  the  breath  of  life  in  order  that,  after  the 
withdrawal  of  His  visible  presence,  a  visible 
Body  might  yet  remain  to  perpetuate  His  life 
and  to  bear  His  message.  Hence,  too,  the 
Church  in  these  days  and  through  her  trained 

90 


The  Model  Missionary 

members  goes  to  heathen  lands;  there  trains 
native  workers;  there  establishes  a  native 
Church  —  missionary  because  living;  and 
thence,  having  accomplished  her  end,  moves 
on  to  other  lands,  that  she  may  preach  there 
also,  for  to  this  end  came  she  forth. 

Finally,  and  above  all,  our  Lord  was  a  Pray- 
ing missionary.  Prayer  was  at  the  root  of  all 
His  work;  He  planned  nothing,  He  accom- 
plished nothing,  without  it.  It  was  the  need 
of  this  that  He  was  continually  trying  to  im- 
press upon  His  disciples.  It  was  quite  to  be 
expected,  therefore,  that  He  should  give  them 
a  prayer  in  which  to  express  their  fundamen- 
tal needs,  and  that  those  needs,  when  formu- 
lated in  prayer,  should  be  found  to  be  those  of 
a  body  of  believers  whose  two-fold  desire  was 
the  transformation  of  the  world  into  the  King- 
dom of  God,  and  their  own  increasing  fitness  to 
further  that  transformation. 

It  will  be  useful,  therefore,  to  consider  this 
great  prayer  if  we  are  really  to  be  missionaries 
in  any  true  sense.  It  is  found  in  its  completest 
form  in  St.  Matthew  6:9-13.* 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  prayer  consists  of 
an  address  to  God  by  name,  followed  by  six 
petitions  arranged  in  two  groups.  A  mar- 
ginal note  in  the  revised  version  of  our  Bible 
states  that  "many  authorities,  some  ancient, 


*  The  following  analysis  of  the  Prayer  is  almost  wholly  that 
of  Bishop  Gore  as  given  in  his  book,  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

91 


The  Church's  Life 

but  with  variations  add"  the  closing  ascription 
now  in  universal  use  except  under  certain 
liturgical  conditions.  The  prayer  may  be  ar- 
ranged graphically  in  a  condensed  form  as  fol- 
lows: 

Our  Father  in  Heaven, 

Hallowed  be  thy  name-)   as  fa  heayen 
Thy  kingdom  come       V  sQ  Qn  earth_ 

Thy  will  be  done  J 

Give  us  daily  bread. 
Forgive  us  our  trespasses. 
Deliver  us  from  the  evil  one: 
For  thine  is  the  Kingdom. 

But  before  taking  up  the  different  phrases 
of  the  prayer,  let  us  consider  certain  general 
features. 

First,  this  prayer  is  not  one  among  many; 
rather  is  it  the  model  of  all  prayer,  and  the 
touchstone  of  efficacious  prayer.  "After  this 
manner  pray  ye,"  says  our  Lord,  and  then  He 
gives  a  perfect  illustration  of  what  all  praying 
should  be  like.  It  is  the  model  prayer  because 
it  is  the  great  prayer  "in  the  Name  of  Christ." 
We  are  prone  to  assume  that  a  prayer  "in 
Christ's  Name"  is  made  by  appending  those  or 
similar  words  to  one  or  more  petitions.  This 
is  not  so.  Everywhere  in  the  Bible  "name" 
stands  for  "character."  A  prayer  in  Christ's 
name  is  a  prayer  in  His  character — that  is,  a 
prayer  characteristic  of  Him  and  His  desires. 

92 


The  Model  Missionary 

Since  this  is  His  own  prayer,  it  is  evidently  the 
one  most  characteristic  of  Him;  therefore  it 
is  the  prayer  in  His  Name  and  consequently  its 
petitions  are  surely  to  be  granted.  This  is  not 
true  of  all  our  prayers.  Often  they  are  not  at 
all  such  as  our  blessed  Lord  would  have  of- 
fered or  for  things  which  He  would  have  de- 
sired. The  disciples  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  pray,  yet  the  Master  told  them  that 
they  had  never  learned  to  pray  in  a  manner 
characteristic  of  Him,  that. is,  in  His  Name; 
therefore  their  praying  had  never  reached 
great  heights  of  power.  But  as  they  grew  into 
His  likeness  so  they  would  learn  to  pray  in 
His  character  and  then  they  should  receive  the 
completeness  of  their  joy  (St.  John  17:24). 

A  simple  illustration  may  serve  to  make 
more  plain  the  meaning  of  "in  Christ's  Name" 
as  applied  to  Prayer.  A  very  rich  friend  of 
mine  goes  abroad,  leaving  me  in  charge  of  his 
affairs.  He  gives  me  unlimited  power  of  at- 
torney, authorizing  me  to  manage  his  affairs 
as,  in  my  judgment,  he  would  have  managed 
them  himself  had  he  been  here.  Presently  a 
request  is  made  of  my  friend  through  me,  in- 
volving a  large  draft  on  his  funds.  I  decide 
that  the  request  would  have  had  his  approval, 
I  draw  a  cheque  to  my  own  or  another's  order, 
sign  it  with  my  friend's  name,  and  present  it 
at  the  bank  to  be  cashed.  The  cashier  asks  by 
what  authority  I  make  this  large  draft  and 
sign  my  friend's  name  to  it.     I  show  him  my 

93 


The  Church's  Life 

power  of  attorney;  he  is  satisfied  that  I  am 
making  the  demand  rightfully  and  the  cash  is 
handed  over  to  me.  The  bank  can  do  no  other- 
wise. I  have  demanded  the  money  in  my 
friend's  name,  and  I  show  the  authority  en- 
titling me  to  do  so.  So  with  prayer  "in  the 
Name  of  Christ."  If  we  draw  upon  the  re- 
sources of  God  in  the  Name  of  His  Son,  and 
can  prove  our  authority  to  do  so,  our  petition 
must  be  granted.  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
the  Father  in  my  name,  he  will  give  it  you" 
(St.  John  16:23).  There  is  our  power  of  attor- 
ney, and  it  is  prefaced  by  the  solemn  assevera- 
tion of  our  Lord,  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you."  But  just  as  my  friend's  trust  in  me  to 
the  extent  of  giving  me  such  authority  in  his 
name  makes  it  incumbent  on  me  to  consider 
with  the  utmost  care  how  I  exercise  that  au- 
thority, lest  I  use  it  in  a  way  or  for  a  purpose 
not  wholly  in  accord  with  his  desires  as  known 
to  me,  so  in  the  case  of  prayer.  It  is  taking  a 
tremendous  responsibility  to  attach  to  any  pe- 
tition the  significant  words  "in  the  Name  of 
Christ."  I  can  only  do  so  if  I  am  absolutely 
assured  that  that  particular  prayer  is  charac- 
teristic of  Him,  that  it  expresses  a  desire  of 
which  He  would  fully  approve.  The  very  as- 
surance that  it  will  be  granted  makes  the  form 
and  matter  of  the  petition  an  affair  requiring 
most  careful  thought.  It  is  for  this  reason, 
doubtless,  that  our  Lord,  on  another  occasion, 
suggests  the  advisability  of  consulting  with 

94 


The  Model  Missionary 

some  other  Christian  before  deciding  so  impor- 
tant a  question  (St.  Matt.  18:19).  In  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  however,  this  need  not  trouble 
us.  It  is  supremely  the  prayer  in  His  Name, 
the  petitions  are  characteristic  of  Him,  they 
all  express  what  He  ardently  desires;  there- 
fore we  can  offer  them  in  the  certainty  that 
they  will  be  granted.  This,  then,  is  the  first 
thing  to  be  noted  about  the  Lord's  Prayer: 
It  is  the  prayer  supremely  characteristic  of  the 
Lord  Himself,  therefore  it  is  the  prayer  of  ef- 
ficacy— the  test  and  model  of  all  acceptable 
prayer.  Our  petitions  bring  power  only  in  so 
far  as  they  are  evidently  consistent  with  the 
petitions  of  this  prayer.  "The  climax  of 
Christian  growth  is  to  have  thoroughly  learned 
to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  spirit  of  Him 
who  first  spoke  it."* 

The  second  general  point  to  note  regarding 
the  prayer  is  the  order  of  its  petitions.  The 
things  of  God  come  first;  those  pertaining  to 
ourselves,  second.  This  is  the  reflection  of 
Christ's  mind  and  desires.  Ours  are  usually 
the  reverse.  Too  often  really  earnest  prayer 
is,  with  us,  a  last  resort,  to  be  used  only  when 
driven  to  it  by  critical  personal  need.  Then 
the  personal  desire  looms  large  and  takes  first 
place.  Not  so  with  the  prayer  put  on  our  lips 
by  Christ.  Prayer  in  His  Name  and,  for  that 
reason,  issuing  with  power  and  bringing  peace 


*  Gore.    Loc.  cit.,  page  130. 
95 


The  Church's  Life 

and  joy,  is  prayer  which  puts  first  things  first. 
[That  is  the  rule  and  order  for  all  our  praying. 

Thirdly,  we  are  to  note  the  social  character 
of  the  prayer.  Nowhere  are  we  permitted  to 
say  "my"  or  "me."  Everywhere  it  is  "our," 
"us."  It  is  the  prayer  of  all  Christians  for  all' 
Christians.  Only  as  we  realize  ourselves  in 
need,  but  one  with  all  of  God's  family  in  that 
need,  can  we  really  use  the  Lord's  Prayer.  It 
will  be  found  of  great  value  to  use  this  prayer 
from  time  to  time  as  a  meditation,  repeating 
each  phrase  in  order,  slowly  and  thoughtfully, 
pausing  after  each  phrase  to  let  God  make  its 
meaning  clear  to  us. 

Think  now  of  the  address.  "Our  Father." 
It  is  to  the  Father  of  the  family  on  the  part  of 
the  children  of  the  family.  It  is  not  intended 
for  the  use  of  all  men  indiscriminately,  but 
was  given  to  God's  own  children  as  a  special 
privilege,  and  for  their  peculiar  use.  This 
seems  apparent  from  St.  Matthew's  account  of 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  given. 
It  occurs  in  the  "Sermon  on  the  Mount" — an 
address  made  primarily  to  the  disciples  though 
in  the  presence  of  a  multitude  of  other  people 
(St.  Matt.  5:1,  2).  In  the  happy  phrase  of 
Bishop  Gore,  the  Sermon  "was  preached  in  the 
ear  of  the  Church  and  was  overheard  by  the 
world."     This  explains  much. 

The  members  of  the  family  are  taught  to  call 
God  their  Father.  This  is  a  right  which  they 
alone  have,  and  they  are  given  it  only  by  virtue 

96 


The  Model  Missionary 

of  their  relation  to  and  union  with  the  only- 
begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ  (St.  John  1:12). 
To  them,  the  Holy  Spirit  reveals  God  as  their 
Father  (Rom.  8:14-16).  It  is  only  to  those 
who  desire  and  claim  sonship  that  the  "Father- 
hood of  God"  becomes  a  practical  reality. 

In  passing,  it  might  be  noted  that  the  word 
"brother"  throughout  the  New  Testament  ap- 
pears to  be  limited  to  members  of  the  Christian 
community.  Our  Lord's  practice  seems  to 
have  been  in  conformity  with  this  principle. 
"All  ye  are  brethren,"  Jle  says  to  His  disci- 
ples ;  but  when  He  inculcates  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  toward  one  who  has  not  yet  accepted 
the  privileges  of  sonship  in  God's  family,  He 
applies  to  such  the  word  "neighbor."  His  an- 
swer to  the  question  of  the  lawyer,  "Who  is 
my  neighbor?"  is  a  good  illustration  (St.  Luke 
10:29-37).  Had  one  of  His  disciples  asked 
him,  "Who  is  my  brother?"  the  answer  would 
doubtless  have  been  different. 

"Father"  is  a  name  of  great  significance  in 
human  relationships;  to  be  permitted  to  apply 
it  to  God  Almighty  is  an  inexpressible  priv- 
ilege. A  child  seeks  in  its  father  wisdom, 
power  and  love.  Any  one  of  the  three  alone 
— wisdom  unmitigated  by  love  and  power; 
power  exerted  apart  from  wisdom  and  love; 
love  unguided  by  wisdom  and  power — these 
present  only  a  hideous  nightmare  of  possibili- 
ties. The  three  qualities  are  essential  to  pro- 
duce confidence.     The  most  perfect  of  earthly 

97 


The  Church's  Life 

parents  presents  but  the  barest  approximation 
to  these  true  qualities  of  fatherhood.  God 
exhibits  them  in  infinite  perfectness.  The 
members  of  God's  family  are  in  the  hands  and 
under  the  care  of  a  Father  all-wise,  all-power- 
ful and  all-loving.  He  can  make  no  mistakes 
in  the  treatment  of  His  children  through  ig- 
norance, weakness  or  carelessness. 

"Who  art  in  Heaven"  It  is  childish  to 
think  of  heaven  as  a  place  up  in  the  sky  where 
God  lives.  There  is  no  route  to  heaven 
through  space.  One  does  not  have  to  die  to 
gtt  there. 

"Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy! 
Shades  of  the  prison-house  begin  to  close 

Upon   the  growing  boy, 
But  he  beholds  the  light,  and  whence  it  flows, 
He  sees  it  in  his  joy; 


At  length  the  man  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

Only  as  we  grow  up  and  lose  our  childlike- 
ness,  only  as  we  lose  our  faith  in  the  unseen, 
do  we  become  conscious  of  a  thickening  veil 
between  earth  and  heaven.  Really  they  are 
two  interpenetrating  realms,  and  it  is  not  dif- 
ficult for  the  child  of  God  to  dwell  much  in 
his  "Father's  house."  Heaven  is  where  God 
is,  and  God  is  very  close  to  any  one  desiring 
Him  so  to  be. 

98 


The  Model  Missionary 

"Speak  to  Him,  thou,  for  He  heareth, 
And  spirit  with  spirit  can  meet, 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing, 
Nearer  than  hands  and  feet." 

Just  on  the  other  side  of  the  veil  God  dwells. 
His  realm  is  there — the  realm  of  power  and 
calm.  To  some  of  God's  children,  whose  senses 
have  become  attuned  through  long  practice 
to  catch  the  echoes  and  images  of  things  un- 
seen, the  veil  is  always  semi-transparent ;  to  all 
of  us  it  is  so  at  times. 

There  stands  upon  the  altar  a  bit  of  bread, 
a  drop  of  wine;  a  power  from  God's  realm 
touches  these  material  elements;  their  value  is 
changed;  and  what  we  receive  is  not  merely 
material  food  fit  for  our  bodies,  but  spiritual 
food  to  nourish  our  souls.  Indeed,  in  this 
great  Sacrament,  our  Lord  comes  to  us  and  we 
to  Him ;  we  are  actually  in  His  presence ;  here 
the  veil  is  so  thin  that  through  it  His  power 
works  almost  without  obstruction  and  "to  our 
great  and  endless  comfort." 

This  is  but  one  assurance  of  the  close  pres- 
ence of  God.  Where  God  is  manifest,  there  is 
heaven, — the  realm  of  peace  and  light  and 
power.  Through  the  gate  of  worship  we  can 
enter  heaven  at  any  time  by  realizing  the  pres- 
ence of  God;  by  the  practice  of  His  presence 
we  come  to  dwell  there. 

"Hallowed  be  Thy  Name."  In  heaven  the 
object  of  all  reverence  and  adoration  is  the 
Name — the  character — of  God.     It  is  a  proper 

99 


The  Church's  Life 

instinct  by  which  the  devout  Jew  never  pre- 
sumes to  pronounce  the  great  Name  of  God 
— Jehovah — the  Ever-Existent.  Our  Lord 
teaches  us  to  pray  that  we  may  ourselves  real- 
ize the  adorable  qualities  of  God — His  holiness, 
His  justice,  His  love ;  that  reverence  for  Him, 
because  of  these  qualities,  may  become  the  con- 
trolling feature  of  our  religion;  that  we  may 
strive  to  reproduce  those  qualities  in  our- 
selves ;  and  that  more  and  more  the  reverence 
which  is  paid  to  God  and  to  His  essential  char- 
acter in  heaven  may  be  duplicated  on  earth. 
For  scholars  tell  us  that  the  phrase  "as  in 
heaven  so  on  earth"  is  to  be  taken  as  qualify- 
ing all  three  of  the  preceding  clauses.  Every 
act  or  word,  therefore,  indeed  every  thought 
of  ours  which  adds  to  the  reverence  in  which 
God's  name  and  character  are  held  among  our 
associates  here  on  earth,  helps  on  the  fulfil- 
ment of  this  prayer,  "Hallowed  be  Thy 
Name." 

"Thy  Kingdom  come — on  earth  as  in 
heaven."  Reverence  is  expressed  in  adora- 
tion, but  not  only  so.  It  is  no  passive  quality. 
The  most  profound  reverence  is  expressed  in 
active  strivings  to  pattern  ourselves  after  the 
person  reverenced,  or  to  reproduce  his  charac- 
teristic qualities.  (One  recalls  the  familiar 
saying,  "Imitation  is  the  sincerest  flattery.") 
Therefore  when  we  have  prayed  that  God's 
character  may  be  revered  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven,  we  are  led  immediately  to  pray  that 

100 


The  Model  Missionary 

His  righteousness  (a  word  which,  better  than 
any  other,  seems  to  sum  up  His  character) 
may  appear  to  all  men  everywhere  so  wholly 
beautiful  and  adorable  that  they  may  desire 
ardently  to  show  their  admiration  and  rever- 
ence not  only  by  emulating  it,  but  also  by  plac- 
ing themselves  under  God's  rule  and  author- 
ity, and  by  giving  to  Him  their  utter  obedi- 
ence. And  note  here  that  righteousness  and 
morality  are  not  the  same  thing  at  all.  As  a 
recent  writer  has  said,  "Morality  may  be  the 
long  story  of  human  behavior;  but  righteous- 
ness is  divine.  The  hope  of  righteousness  in 
the  world  is  that  the  Creator  is  the  Judge" 
(C.  S.  Baldwin,  in  The  Living  Church,  April 
3,  1920.  Cf.  Acts  17:31;  Rom.  3:5,  6).  This 
recognition  of  the  supreme  claim  of  God  to 
universal  loyalty  is  the  coming  of  God's  King- 
dom on  earth;  and  every  act  of  ours,  however 
slight,  which  tends  to  make  others  realize  the 
attractiveness  of  God's  character,  and  which 
therefore  stirs  a  desire  to  imitate  it  and  makes 
goodness  easier  and  sin  more  difficult  and  life 
richer  for  some  one  else,  helps  forward  the 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth ;  for 
it  is  quite  as  true  that  where  God  reigns  there 
is  heaven  as  that  where  heaven  is  there  God 
reigns.  When,  through  the  sum  of  such  slight 
individual  efforts,  mankind  as  a  whole  comes 
so  to  reverence  God's  righteousness  as  to  imi- 
tate it  in  all  their  inter-relationships,  the  reign 
of  God,  now  established  in  the  heavenly  sphere, 

101 


The  Church's  Life 

will  be   manifestly   extended  to   include   the 
whole  earthly  sphere  as  well. 

"Thy  will  be  done — as  in  heaven,  so  on 
earth."  In  heaven — in  the  realm  on  the  other 
side  of  the  veil,  God's  holy  will  is  perfectly  ful- 
filled and  joyously  accepted.  There  is  no 
other  desire,  for  His  will  is  seen  to  be  the  high- 
est good  both  in  itself  and  in  the  ways  in  which 
it  is  fulfilled.  Here,  in  the  earthly  realm, 
these  ways  can  not  but  be  equally  inspired  and 
directed  by  the  pure  love  of  our  Father;  but, 
too  often  the  fulfilment  of  God's  will  is  ac- 
companied by  such  painful  circumstances  that 
the  splendid  prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done,"  has 
come  to  be  a  common  expression  of  more  or 
less  pious  resignation.  Of  course  this  is  due 
to  our  own  short-sightedness.  If  we  could 
see  the  ultimate  results  attained  by  God  in 
completely  working  out  His  will  in  and  through 
us,  we  would  be  astounded  that  ever  for  a  mo- 
ment we  should  have  desired  otherwise.  So 
far  from  being  reserved  for  moments  of  pain 
and  sorrow,  whispered  in  a  minor  key,  and 
made  expressive  of  resignation  to  the  inev- 
itable, the  words  should  be  shouted  aloud  as 
the  C  major  of  our  lives — the  highest  conceiv- 
able good,  glorifying  and  illuminating  every 
event.  For  nothing  that  comes  to  us  by  the 
will  of  God  can  be  evil,  and  nothing  evil  can 
come  to  us  by  the  will  of  God.  "We  know  that 
to  them  that  love  God,  all  things  work  together 
for  good"  (Rom.  8:28).     Those  four  mono- 

102 


The  Model  Missionary 

syllables — "Thy  will  be  done" — are  perhaps  the 
most  complete  expression  of  man's  longing  for 
happiness  and  contentment  that  has  ever  been 
put  into  human  speech.  Their  perfect  fulfil- 
ment on  earth  as  in  heaven  would  leave  noth- 
ing more  to  be  desired  in  the  whole  universe. 
Every  joyous  acceptance  of  what  comes  to  us 
through  the  love  and  power  and  wisdom  of  our 
Father  makes  His  will  more  completely  done 
on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

This  then  is  the  mission  to  which  we  new- 
born people — members  of  God's  family — are 
devoted:  to  increase  everywhere  and  by  every 
means  the  reverence  in  which  God  and  His  at- 
tributes of  majesty,  righteousness,  wisdom, 
justice,  power  and  love  are  held;  that  all  men 
may  loyally  acknowledge  His  authority  and 
strive  to  emulate  His  character,  in  order  that 
His  kingdom  of  righteousness  may  be  estab- 
lished throughout  the  world,  His  will  recog- 
nized as  man's  highest  good,  and  earth  become 
like  heaven. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  mis- 
sion we  need  certain  things,  and  our  Lord  bids 
us  pray  for  them.  They  are  personal  needs 
but  they  are  to  be  interpreted  in  relation  to  the 
united  work  of  the  Family  and  of  the  world's 
needs. 

"Give  us  tli is  day  our  daily  bread."  First, 
we  need  physical  strength  for  our  work,  and 
therefore  need  bodily  food.  But  note  the  re- 
strained desire  expressed  in  the  petition.     No 

103 


The  Church's  Life 

doubt  our  Lord  uses  the  word  "bread"  in  a 
typical  sense,  meaning  all  things  necessary  to 
our  physical  life;  but  He  certainly  means  only 
necessary  things;  in  other  words,  only  such 
things  as  are  essential  to  the  doing  of  our  work 
effectively.  Moreover,  the  form  of  the  peti- 
tion is  in  the  original,  very  striking.  The  pre- 
cise meaning  is  obscure,  but  the  more  literal 
translation  seems  to  be,  "Give  us  today  the 
bread  for  the  coming  day."  Not  only  is  the 
request  limited  to  the  simplest  food  and  other 
necessities  of  life,  but  it  is  limited  also  to  our 
immediate  need.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  we 
are  thus  limited,  in  our  asking,  to  bare  neces- 
sities, we  may  be  quite  sure,  on  the  other,  that 
these  will  never  be  lacking,  or  our  Lord  would 
not  have  told  us  to  ask  unconditionally  for 
them.  David  was  a  person  of  very  wide  ex- 
perience among  people  of  all  sorts,  yet  he  tes- 
tifies that  in  all  his  varied  career,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  he  had  never  come  across  a 
case  of  absolute  destitution  in  the  family  of  a 
righteous  man  who  took  God  at  His  word. 
Doubtless  he  was  perfectly  right.  Absolute 
and  unwavering  trust  in  God  can  never  be  dis- 
regarded by  Him.  Furthermore  we  pray, 
"Give  us"  not  "Give  me"  In  praying  for  bod- 
ily needs  we  are  to  have  in  mind  the  whole  of 
God's  Family — all  of  our  fellow-Christians; 
and  we  shall  not  expect  to  be  provided  for  in- 
dividually unless  we  are  doing  our  best  to  see 
that  all  other  members  of  God's  Family  are 

104 


The  Model  Missionary 

equally  provided  for,  and  protected  from  want. 

"And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  also  have 
forgiven  our  debtors."  We  have  prayed  for 
physical  strength  through  the  supply  of  ma- 
terial food.  But  something  more  is  required 
if  we  are  to  do  God's  work  and  fulfil  our  mis- 
sion acceptably.  For  this  we  need  spiritual 
food  to  give  strength  to  our  souls.  Those 
souls  are  lamentably  weak.  They  have  never 
been  strong  enough  to  bring  our  bodies  com- 
pletely under  control;  we  have  constantly  of- 
fended God  in  His  purity,  His  love,  His  jus- 
tice ;  wre  have  not  tried  hard  enough  to  be  like 
Him;  measured  by  the  rule  of  Christ's  life, 
ours  are  manifestly  crooked.  Therefore  for- 
giveness for  past  offenses  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  any  access  of  spiritual  strength.  That 
is  the  reason  why  forms  of  confession  and  ab- 
solution are  found  at  the  very  opening  of  all 
liturgies.  We  have  defrauded  God  of  the 
obedience  which  was  His  due  and  have  thereby 
become  His  debtors ;  we  have  broken  His  laws 
and  thereby  become  trespassers  against  Him; 
whether  as  debtors  or  trespassers  we  have  done 
Him  a  wrong  and  can  only  throw  ourselves 
on  His  mercy. 

Note  also  the  extent  to  which  we  may  ex- 
pect mercy.  It  is  measured  by  the  degree  of 
our  forgiveness  toward  others — "forgive  us 
.  .  .  as  we  forgive"  (t.  e.  in  the  same  propor- 
tion) (Cf.  St.  Matt.  6:15).  If  we  would 
know  how  forgivingly  God  feels  toward  us, 

105 


The  Church's  Life 

all  that  is  necessary  is  to  see  how  forgivingly 
we  feel — not  spasmodically  or  upon  some  spe- 
cial occasion,  but  habitually — toward  people 
who  have  done  us  wrong.  It  is  a  very  solemn 
petition,  involving  great  issues. 

"And  bring  us  not  into  temptation,  but  de- 
liver us  from  the  evil  one"  Of  all  the  clauses 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  meaning  of  this  one 
is  the  easiest  to  understand  and  the  most  dif- 
ficult to  express.  St.  James,  using  the  same 
word  for  "temptation,"  tells  us  to  rejoice  in  it 
as  a  test  of  faith  (Jas.  1:2),  and  indeed  it  is 
only  by  subjecting  strength  to  a  strain  that 
it  is  increased.  Evidently,  however,  no  one 
desires  strength  or  resistance  to  be  tested  to 
the  breaking  point  unless  the  material  is  re- 
garded as  worth  wasting  in  order  to  determine 
that  point.  Of  course  that  is  not  so  in  this 
case.  What  our  Lord  means  us  to  feel  and  ex- 
press is  our  well-known  and  deplorable  weak- 
ness in  the  face  of  temptation.  We  daren't 
pray  to  be  put  to  the  test ;  in  fact  we  may  even 
pray  not  to  be  tested,  at  least  not  beyond  our 
strength  or  unless  at  the  same  time  the  spirit 
of  watchfulness  and  prayer  be  increased  in  us 
so  that  we  are  "delivered  from  evil"  (liter- 
ally, "from  the  evil  one")  (Cf.  St.  Matt. 
26:41).  As  Bishop  Gore  has  explained  (The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  p.  128),  "The  prayer 
may  be  interpreted  by  expansion  thus:  make 
us  watchful  and  prayerful,  so  that  we  may 
never  be  suffered  to  fall  into  temptation  as  into 

106 


The  Model  Missionary 

a  snare."  For  deliverance  under  such  cir- 
cumstances we  may  always  pray  with  confi- 
dence (Cf.  i  Cor.  10:13). 

The  second  portion  of  this  clause  is  for  de- 
liverance from  the  devil — not  temporarily  but 
permanently.  We  are  reminded  of  the  clause 
in  the  Litany  so  often  misread  by  our  clergy: 
"And  finally  to  beat  down  Satan  under  our 
feet,"  where  "finally"  doesn't  have  the  mean- 
ing of  "eventually"  or  "at  last,"  but  rather  of 
"definitively,"  "now,  once  for  all."  So, 
strengthened  in  body  and  soul,  forgiven  for  all 
past  offences,  at  one  with  God,  knowing  our 
desperate  susceptibility  to  evil  suggestions  but 
knowing  also  that  by  watchfulness  and  prayer 
Satan  can  be  resisted,  we  go  forth  on  our  mis- 
sion. 

And  here  again  it  is  necessary  to  notice  that 
these  petitions  have  no  merely  individual  ap- 
plication. Intercession — the  praying  for  oth- 
ers, those  not  yet  re-born,  as  well  as  our  fellow- 
members  in  God's  family — this  should  form, 
a  large  part  of  all  our  prayers. 

There  can  be  no  question  about  the  result. 
St.  John,  on  the  Island  of  Patmos,  looking  for- 
ward into  the  dim  future,  saw  the  end  with 
such  absolute  certitude  that  to  his  eyes  it 
seemed  already  present.  "There  followed 
great  voices  in  heaven,"  he  writes,  "and  they 
said,  The  kingdom  of  the  world  is  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ" 
(Rev.  11:15).    So,  some  time  after  the  Lord's 

107 


The  Church's  Life 

Prayer  was  written  down,  the  mind  of  the 
Church  attached  to  the  prayer  a  doxology 
which  was  commonly  used  in  connection  with 
many  prayers,  but  has  a  peculiarly  fine  sig- 
nificance here.  For  not  only  does  it  give  the 
reason  for  our  worship  of  God,  but,  with  su- 
perb assurance,  it  sees  the  ultimate  purpose  of 
God  as  already  definitely  realized.  "Thine  is 
the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for 
ever  and  ever.  Amen!'  Here  is  the  source 
of  all  our  confidence.  In  weakness  and  inef- 
ficiency the  Church  struggles  forward;  but 
around  her  is  God  Almighty ;  unseen,  unknown 
by  the  world  but  infinite  in  power  and  glory 
and  determined  to  establish  on  earth  His  king- 
dom of  righteousness,  yet  dependent  on  man 
for  the  accomplishment  of  His  purpose.  To 
this  high  purpose  He  calls  us,  and  He  pledges 
His  honor  that,  with  our  cooperation,  mankind 
shall  be  brought  in  adoration  to  His  throne. 
Surely  if  the  messages  implied  in  this  great 
Prayer  fail  to  stir  in  us  a  passionate  eagerness 
to  make  them  known,  something  is  fatally 
wrong  with  us.  God  has  become  our  Father; 
we  have  entered  upon  a  relationship  toward 
Him  possible  for  every  son  of  man.  In  close 
fellowship  with  Him,  we  have  found  heaven 
where  He  dwells  as  others  may  find  it  here  and 
now.  In  striving  to  reproduce  His  holy  char- 
acter in  ourselves  and  in  others,  righteousness 
appears  on  earth.  In  the  perfect  fulfilment  of 
His  most  glorious  will  on  earth,  we  find  satis- 

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The  Model  Missionary 

faction  for  ourselves  and  all  mankind.  We 
have  learned  that  only  as  a  world  divided,  dis- 
tressed, and  misled  comes  to  recognize  Him  as 
King  can  the  law  of  right  and  justice  be  finally 
established  on  earth.  We  have  found  our- 
selves to  be  the  objects  of  His  daily  loving 
care.  Conscious  of  the  debt  we  owe  Him,  we 
are  assured  of  His  forgiveness;  more  than 
that,  we  are  made  confident  of  deliverance 
from  the  powers  of  evil.  For  He  is  the  King, 
all-powerful,  and  glorious  beyond  imagining. 


109 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  GREAT  CHARTER  OF  THE  CHURCH 

So  long  as  Jesus  Christ  was  Himself  phys- 
ically present  in  the  world  it  was  not  difficult 
for  Him  to  show  men  that  He  came  with  a 
message  of  life  from  God  to  man.  We  have 
seen  how,  with  untiring  activity,  He  carried 
that  message,  applying  it  to  the  bodies,  the 
minds  and  the  souls  of  all  whom  He  could 
reach.  Even  as  a  child  He  was  plainly  con- 
scious of  a  mission.  Unconsciously,  too,  He 
ministered  through  those  passive  early  years. 
We  have  studied  the  methods  which  He 
adopted  during  His  active  missionary  career; 
and,  because  all  His  strength  seems  to  have 
been  derived  from  God  through  prayer,  and 
also  because  every  clause  of  the  great  prayer 
which  He  gave  to  His  Church  is  instinct  with 
the  missionary  message  and  has  but  little  sig- 
nificance apart  from  it,  we  have  tried  to  see 
what  the  prayer  means. 

As  the  time  approached  when  Christ  was  to 
withdraw  His  physical  presence,  it  became  in- 
creasingly necessary  to  make  some  provision 
for  the  carrying  on  of  His  mission. 

There  is  an  old  legend  to  the  effect  that  when 
110 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

our  Lord  ascended  to  heaven  after  His  earthly 
ministry  was  over,  He  was  met  by  an  angel 
who  asked  Him  where  He  had  been.  "I  have 
been  to  earth,"  He  replied.  "What  hast  Thou 
done  there?"  asked  the  angel.  "I  have  set  up 
my  Kingdom,"  was  the  reply.  "What  dost 
Thou  hope  for  it?"  the  angel  asked.  "That 
all  the  world  shall  be  brought  into  it  through 
its  present  citizens,"  said  Christ.  "And  how 
many  citizens  hast  Thou  made?"  pursued  the 
angel.  "About  six  score,"  was  the  reply.  The 
angel  paused  a  moment,  wondering.  Then — 
"And  with  this  paltry  number,  how  canst  Thou 
hope  to  conquer  the  world?  Suppose  they 
prove  false  or  disobedient;  what  other  provi- 
sion hast  Thou  made?"  "I  have  made  no 
other  provision,"  was  the  calm  reply;  "I  am  de- 
pending on  them." 

How  our  Lord's  dependence  upon  the  citi- 
zens of  His  Kingdom  in  those  early  days  was 
justified,  we  can  read  in  the  whole  history  of 
the  early  Church  for  two  centuries.  How  far 
His  reliance  upon  His  Church  today  is  justi- 
fied, depends  on  how  you  and  I  interpret  His 
final  command,  and  on  the  zeal  with  which  you 
and  I  are  trying  to  obey  it.  He  has  made  no 
other  provision  to  have  a  work  done  which  you 
and  I  alone  can  accomplish,  and  to  secure  re- 
sults dependent  upon  your  message  and  mine. 
For  this  He  is  depending  solely  on  us. 

It  was  enough  to  cause  the  keenest  anxiety 
to  a  mind  less  faithful  and  well-poised.     He 

111 


The  Church's  Life 

trusted  in  two  things;  the  gradual  fruition  of 
His  own  teaching,  and  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  into  the  Church  to  abide  with  it  as 
teacher  and  director.  We  shall  see  later  what 
absolute  reliance  He  placed  on  the  work  of  God 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  how  fully  He  was  justi- 
fied; but  during  the  closing  months  of  our 
Lord's  earthly  life,  the  teaching  and  strength- 
ening power  of  God  had  not  yet  come  in  full- 
ness on  the  disciples,  and  until  it  should  come 
they  were  weak,  inefficient,  timid  and  igno- 
rant. They  were,  however,  the  only  instru- 
ments at  hand  and  they  had  at  least  one  essen- 
tial quality  of  the  missionary — intense  love  for 
their  Master,  and  hence  the  spirit  to  do  His  will 
and  obey  His  last  commands,  however  weak 
the  flesh. 

But  before  proceeding  to  discuss  what  these 
provisions  were,  let  us  see  whether  our  Lord 
really  considered  His  mission  as  world-wide 
in  possible  scope,  and  His  message  as  applica- 
ble to  all  men  everywhere. 

We  have  already  seen  how  God  regarded 
His  revelation  of  Himself  to  the  Jewish 
Church.  There  can  be  no  question  but  that  He 
intended  the  Jews  to  carry  even  that  incom- 
plete revelation  as  good  news  to  all  the  world, 
that  so  all  nations  might  be  brought  into  obedi- 
ence to  His  righteous  rule;  and  mere  logic 
would  lead  us  to  conclude  that,  with  the  giving 
of  a  complete  revelation  to  the  Christian 
Church,  God  equally  intended  that  Church  to 

112 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

be  His  final  messenger  to  the  whole  known 
world.  But  let  us  see  briefly  what  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  and  His  immediate  followers  thought 
about  it.  It  is  certainly  true  that,  at  first,  our 
Lord  did  place  limitations  upon  the  scope  of 
His  own  mission  and  that  of  His  disciples. 
This  is  apparent  in  the  explicit  directions  which 
He  gave  to  the  Twelve  (St.  Matt.  10:5-6); 
it  is  implied  in  the  later  mission  of  the  Sev- 
enty (St.  Luke  10:1).  He  states,  at  least  on 
one  occasion,  that  His  own  mission  is  simi- 
larly restricted  (St.  Matt.  15:24).  In  view, 
however,  of  the  whole  trend  of  our  Lord's 
teaching,  such  a  restriction  must  have  been 
only  temporary,  and  must  be  otherwise  ex- 
plainable than  on  the  theory  that  the  final  rev- 
elation of  God  was  intended  for  the  Jew  only. 
It  may  have  been  that  the  desire  to  see  the  Jew- 
ish people  fulfilling  their  mission  was  still  so 
ardent  in  the  heart  of  Christ,  that  He  deter- 
mined to  disregard  their  age-long  indifference 
to  it,  to  start  afresh,  and  to  give  them  one  more 
opportunity.  He  knew  that,  in  the  plan  of 
God,  salvation  was  of  the  Jews;  it  was,  indeed, 
His  own  to  whom  He  came;  by  His  own  that 
He  was  rejected  ( St.  John  1 : 1 1 ) ;  the  Kingdom 
of  God  was  theirs  by  right  of  priority,  if  only 
they  would  be  faithful  to  it  (St.  Matt.  21 :43). 
Not  until  every  effort  had  been  made,  and 
all  in  vain,  to  open  their  blind  eyes  and  arouse 
their  sluggish  hearts,  did  that  bitter  cry  of 
disappointed  hope  burst  from  our  Lord's  lips, 

113 


The  Church's  Life 

"O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which  killeth  the 
prophets,  and  stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto 
her !  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  deso- 
late'' (St.  Matt.  23:37,  38).  A  similar  hope 
stirred  His  Apostles ;  a  like  disappointment  met 
them.  St.  Peter  is  convinced  that  the  prom- 
ises of  God  are  primarily  to  the  Jews  (Acts 
3 125,  26)  ;  and  even  the  great  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  never  fails  to  address  his  message 
first  to  Jewish  gatherings  in  synagogues,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  necessary  that  the  word  of 
God  should  first  be  spoken  to  them  for  it  is  to 
them  first  that  the  Gospel  is  to  be  exhibited  as 
"the  power  of  God  unto  salvation"  \Rom. 
1:16).  Only  as  the  Jew  rejects  the  revela- 
tion and  scorns  the  message  and  its  obliga- 
tions does  God  divert  His  messengers  from 
the  Jew  to  the  Gentile,  and  select  the  latter  as 
His  agent  (St.  Matt.  21:43;  Acts  13:46; 
and  18:6).  Is  not  this  the  reason  why  our 
Lord  at  first  restricted  the  scope  of  His  own 
mission  ?  His  object  may  not  at  all  have  been 
to  confine  the  message  within  bounds,  but 
rather  to  present  to  God's  proper  messengers, 
once  more  and  for  the  last  time,  an  opportu- 
nity to  fulfil  their  destiny.  That  the  disciples 
were  at  first  similarly  restricted  in  the  scope 
of  their  mission  may  be  explained  on  the  same 
grounds.  I  like  to  think  also,  however,  that 
our  blessed  Lord,  having  due  regard  to  their 
unprepared  condition,  knew  that  it  would  be 
easier  for  them  to  be  sent  to  their  own  kind 

114 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

of  people;  especially  since  He  intended  to  fol- 
low them  up  in  order  to  correct  any  mistakes 
they  might  make  either  through  ignorance  or 
excessive  zeal.  Moreover,  their  mental  limita- 
tions were  such  that  they  could  not  safely  be 
entrusted  with  a  message  to  the  keener  Gen- 
tile mind.  That  had  to  wait  for  the  appear- 
ance of  a  Saul. 

Such,  I  think,  are  the  reasons  for  our  Lord's 
apparent  restrictions  of  His  mission.  That 
He  was  not  Himself  bound  by  them,  however, 
is  quite  plain.  The  woman  of  Samaria,  the 
Syro-Phcenician  mother,  the  Roman  centurion 
whose  favorite  slave  was  sick,  the  Greek  prose- 
lytes at  the  last  great  Passover  whose  request 
to  Philip,  "Sir,  we  wrould  see  Jesus,"  evoked  the 
triumphant  exclamation,  "The  hour  is  come, 
that  the  Son  of  Man  should  be  glorified/' — all 
of  these  were,  racially  at  least,  Gentiles,  and 
to  all  of  them  our  Lord  ministered  of  His 
abundant  grace.  Indeed,  to  the  Samaritan 
womai.,  a  Gentile  and  a  sinner,  he  revealed  the 
higher  truths  of  God  even  as  He  did  to  Nico- 
demus,  the  devout  Pharisee.  When  we  come 
to  His  explicit  statements  regarding  the  scope 
of  His  mission,  and  the  appeal  of  His  message, 
there  is  no  hint  of  any  limitation  whatever. 
"God  loved  the  world,"  is  His  conviction; 
"Whosoever  believeth"  receives  life  (St.  John 
3:16).  "The  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my 
flesh,  for  the  life  of  the  world"  (St.  John  6: 
51).    "I  am  the  light  of  the  world"  (St.  John 

115 


The  Church's  Life 

8:12).  "Other  sheep  I  have — them  also  I 
must  bring"  (St.  John  10:16).  "I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  myself"  (St. 
John  12 132).  "I  came  to  save  the  world"  (St. 
John  12:47). 

Redemption  of  the  whole  creation  and  sal- 
vation made  possible  for  all  men  are  the  objec- 
tives of  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
when  He  prays  for  the  unity  of  all  the  new- 
born children  of  God,  then  and  throughout  all 
time,  it  is  in  order  that,  through  their  mani- 
fest unity,  one  with  another  and  all  in  the 
Father  and  the  Son  together,  the  world  may 
be  convinced  that  in  Jesus  Christ  is  seen  the 
Revealer  of  God  (St.  John  17:21). 

By  His  command,  His  messengers  are  sent 
forth  to  make  disciples  ofy  and  to  baptize  all 
nations  (St.  Matt.  28:19).  The  Gospels  are 
the  records  of  a  great  Missionary;  they  were 
written  by  missionaries.  The  book  following 
the  Gospels  in  the  canon  records  the  acts  of 
living  men  engaged  in  turning  the  world  up- 
side down ;  bringing  in  a  new  social  order,  not, 
as  in  the  case  of  man's  blind  and  misguided 
attempts,  by  hatred  and  destruction,  but  by 
the  divine  method  of  love  and  freedom  and 
life  for  all  the  world.  The  very  center  and 
kernel  of  the  book  is  found  in  its  opening  chap- 
ter :  "Ye  shall  receive  power"  (Acts  1 :8).  The 
remainder  is  the  record  of  this  power  as  ap- 
plied to  the  known  world  of  the  day.  St.  Peter 
has    a   narrow    range   of    activities — Judaea, 

116 


i    The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

Samaria,  Galilee — all  Jewish  or  part  Jewish — 
though  he  is  given  proof  that  the  Spirit  shall 
yet  be  poured  out  on  all  flesh.  St.  Philip's 
mission  opens  the  gateway  to  a  Gentile  people 
far  beyond  his  ken.  But  it  is  to  the  missionary 
activities  of  St.  Paul — ambassador  plenipo- 
tentiary of  God  to  the  whole  Gentile  world, 
East  and  West — that  two-thirds  of  this  mar- 
velous book  is  devoted.  Unable  thoroughly  to 
cover  the  vast  field  of  their  activities,  the  great 
missionaries  of  the  early  Church  have  recourse 
to  letters;  the  note  of  every  one  of  the  Epistles 
is  personal  responsibility  toward  keeping  and 
extending  the  Faith.  The  canon  of  Scripture 
closes  with  the  lifting  of  the  veil  which  hides 
the  future.  Strange  visions  appear,  confused 
images  succeed  one  another,  voices  and  thun- 
derings  are  heard,  colossal  shapes  of  doom,  and 
destruction  appear  and  disappear  through  the 
mists;  the  mind  strives  in  vain  to  grasp  and 
hold  the  meaning  of  it  all.  Yet  out  of  the 
confusion  of  image  and  allegory,  like  the  sun 
bursting  through  clouds,  emerge  from  time  to 
time  distinct  visions  of  what  shall  be,  promises 
revealing  the  consummation  of  the  determinate 
counsel  of  God.  Around  the  throne  of  the 
Almighty  stand  the  elect  of  Israel;  and  with 
them  a  countless  host  of  the  redeemed  from 
all  nations  and  tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues, 
joining  with  the  hosts  of  heaven  in  united 
fealty  to  God  (Rev.  7:9-12).  Great  voices 
announce  the  transformation  of  all  earthly  rule 

117 


The  Church's  Life 

into  the  everlasting  Kingdom  of  Christ  (Rev. 
ii  115).  Through  the  arches  of  heaven  rever- 
berate, like  the  roar  of  mighty  waters  in  flood, 
the  praises  of  Jehovah — the  Almighty  King 
(Rev.  19:6).  And  at  the  last,  we  see  the  river 
of  living  water  springing  from  the  throne  of 
God;  and,  on  either  side,  that  tree  of  life  whose 
leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations  (Rev. 
22 :2).  Here  is  the  perfect  fulfillment  of  God's 
eternal  purpose  for  man;  expressed  in  the  be- 
ginning, awaiting  man's  own  consent  through 
the  ages,  and  now  at  last  completed  through 
the  perfect  obedience  of  the  Son  of  Man.  For 
in  another  garden  once  stood  the  tree  of  life, 
mercifully  guarded  from  access  by  a  flaming 
sword  lest  man,  condemned  to  mortality 
through  his  sin  of  disobedience,  should  eat  of 
it  and  live  for  ever  in  his  guilty  state  (Gen. 
3:22-24).  Now,  through  the  obedience  of  the 
perfect  Son  of  Man,  the  tree  of  life  stands  free 
to  all  who  are  made  one  with  Him;  its  leaves 
spread  abroad  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
"And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come. 
And  he  that  heareth,  let  him  say,  Come.  And 
he  that  is  athirst,  let  him  come:  he  that  will, 
let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely"  (Rev. 
22 :  17) .  This  is  the  news  for  which  the  nations 
wait.  Not  believe  in  the  world-wide  mission 
of  the  Church?  Alas,  poor  blinded  Christian! 
God's  eternal  plan  can  never  miscarry;  but 
how  will  it  be  with  you  at  the  last,  if  you  have 
declined  all  part  in  its  accomplishment — if  you 

118 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

have  said  to  no  single  thirsty  soul,  "Come"? 

*  *  * 

The  last  words  of  a  departing  teacher  and 
leader  of  men  are,  I  suppose,  always  of  peculiar 
significance  to  his  followers.  At  any  rate  they 
were  so  in  this  case.  Years  afterwards,  four 
of  His  followers — two  of  them  His  own  or- 
dained Apostles,  and  the  other  two  relying 
upon  information  received  from  an  Apostle  or 
a  member  of  His  earthly  family — put  into  writ- 
ing all  that  the  Holy  Spirit  (according  to  His 
promise)  called  to  their  remembrance  concern- 
ing His  acts  and  sayings  (Cf.  St.  John  14:26). 
Of  the  first  thirty  years  of  Christ's  earthly  life 
they  had  but  little  to  record.  St.  Luke,  deriv- 
ing his  information  probably  from  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  narrates  the  events  leading  up  to  and 
accompanying  our  Lord's  birth,  and  His  visit 
to  Jerusalem  at  the  age  of  twelve.  St.  Mat- 
thew gives,  in  addition,  the  visit  of  the  eastern 
seers,  the  attempt  on  the  Child's  life,  and  the 
flight  of  the  Holy  Family  into  Egypt.  St. 
Mark,  the  earliest  of  the  recorders,  depending 
much,  doubtless,  upon  what  was  told  him  by 
his  old  friend,  Simon  Peter,  is  silent  regarding 
the  whole  of  our  Lord's  life  up  to  the  time  of 
His  baptism.  St.  John  is  not  concerned  with 
historical  or  biographical  detail,  but  records 
and  interprets  the  Master's  sayings  with  ex- 
traordinarily sympathetic  accuracy  and  under- 
standing. 

119 


The  Church's  Life 

One  other  period  of  our  Lord's  life  is  left 
almost  equally  unrecorded — that  is,  the  period 
of  the  forty  days  succeeding  the  Resurrection. 
Much  instruction  must  have  been  crowded  into 
this  period,  countless  sayings  must  have  been 
uttered  (Cf.  St.  John  21 125).  They  were  His 
final  instructions — His  last  words;  and  one 
would  have  expected  to  find  them  very  fully 
recorded.  It  is  not  so,  however.  St.  Matthew 
and  St.  Mark  have  little  to  say  regarding  this 
period.  St.  Luke  and  St.  John  give  only  the 
briefest  records  of  certain  appearances  of  our 
Lord  during  those  forty  days  and  of  the  say- 
ings associated  with  them.  It  is  as  if,  with  one 
notable  exception,  the  last  sayings  had  been 
forgotten  or  had  made  little  impression.  That 
one  exception  must  have  been  emphasized  in 
some  extraordinary  way,  and  it  evidently  left 
a  profound  impression  on  their  minds;  for, 
years  afterwards,  when  the  evangelists  attempt 
to  recall  the  events  of  those  forty  days,  only 
this  one  saying  remains  so  vividly  in  their 
minds  that  all  four  of  them,  writing  indepen- 
dently, record  it — one  of  them  twice  over. 

This  is  the  Great  Commission  of  the  Church 
— our  Lord's  provision  for  the  continuance  of 
His  own  mission.  The  form  given  by  St.  Mat- 
thew is  probably  the  most  familiar:  "Go  ye 
therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations, 
baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  com- 

120 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

nianded  yon"  (St.  Matt.  28:19,  20).  This  is 
an  expansion  of  the  command  as  recorded  by 
St.  Mark:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation''  (St.  Mark 
16:15).  But  all  four  evangelists  record  it: 
St.  Matthew  28:18-20;  St.  Mark  16:15;  St. 
Luke  24:46-49;  St.  John  20:21.  St.  Luke 
records  it  a  second  time  in  Acts  1 :8. 

Now  this  universal  recording  is  very  re- 
markable, for  it  is  not  found  in  the  case  of  any 
of  the  great  events  of  our  Lord's  life,  even 
those  which  have  become  enshrined  for  all  time 
in  the  dogmatic  utterances  of  the  Church.  We 
find  no  such  unanimous  record  of  the  Birth,  the 
Baptism,  the  Temptation,  the  Transfiguration, 
or  the  Ascension.  The  Resurrection  alone  ap- 
pears to  be  regarded  as  of  parallel  significance 
and  to  receive  similar  recognition;  and  this  is 
surely  noteworthy,  since  without  our  Lord's 
permanent  and  decisive  triumph  over  death, 
as  proved  by  His  Resurrection,  there  would 
have  been  no  assurance  of  life  to  form  the 
substance  of  the  Church's  message.  The  two 
are  intimately  bound  up  together — without  the 
Resurrection  there  would  have  been  no  mes- 
sage worth  delivering;  without  the  message 
there  would  have  been  for  us  no  assurance  of 
immortality.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  from 
the  tantalizing  silence  of  the  forty  days,  there 
sounds  the  four- fold  trumpet-call — "Go  ye"! 
It  is  the  supreme  thing — the  message  of  life 
proven  and  assured — the  commission  to  the 

121 


The  Church's  Life 

Church  always  and  everywhere.  She  may  for- 
get all  else,  even  her  Creeds ;  but  this  she  may 
not  forget  except  at  peril  of  her  own  life. 

Note  another  emphasis  on  the  Great  Com- 
mission. One  man  destined  to  be  an  Apostle 
was  not  present  when  the  commission  was 
given ;  in  fact,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  had  never 
even  seen  our  Lord.  When  this  man  is  called, 
it  is  deemed  necessary  that  he,  too,  receive  the 
commission  from  the  same  source  as  did  the 
original  messengers.  It  will  be  to  him  at  once 
the  assurance  of  his  membership  in  the  Church 
and  of  his  responsibility  toward  the  world.  So 
on  the  burning  road  to  Damascus  he  sees  the 
Lord  Christ,  and  from  those  lips  he  receives 
the  commission :  "To  this  end  have  I  appeared 
unto  thee,  to  appoint  thee  a  minister  and  a 
witness;  .  .  .  delivering  thee  .  .  .  from  the 
Gentiles,  unto  whom  I  send  thee"  (Acts  26: 
16,  17).  Now  whether  we  conceive  of  the 
Church  as  a  human  organization — inspired  by 
God,  it  may  be,  both  in  its  inception  and  con- 
tinuance, but  still  analogous  to  a  guild  or  a 
club  or  a  society;  or  whether  we  regard  it  as 
a  divine  organism — a  living  body — composed 
of  members  united  together  by  an  indestruc- 
tible bond  of  common  life  from  a  common 
source — in  a  word,  as  the  Body  of  Christ — 
whichever  of  these  two  views  we  accept,  one 
thing  is  perfectly  certain.  An  organization 
having  an  officially  recognized  standing  and 
purpose  must  comply  with  the  terms  of  its 

122 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

charter.  The  charter  is  issued  by  authority, 
and  it  sets  forth  the  conditions  under  which 
the  organization  is  licensed  to  do  business  and 
the  object  for  which  it  is  incorporated.  The 
organization  is  formed  to  fulfill  some  purpose 
which  the  State  or  other  authority  acknowl- 
edges to  be  a  useful  one,  and  the  moment  the 
organization  forgets  this  obligation  and  fails 
to  fulfill  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  incor- 
porated, as  set  forth  in  its  charter,  that  moment 
it  becomes  liable  to  the  withdrawal  of  its  char- 
ter, and  to  consequent  dissolution.  That  this 
result  is  possible  in  the  case  of  the  Church  is 
abundantly  evident.  The  Jewish  Church  for- 
feited its  charter  because  it  was  blind  to  its 
mission  as  a  messenger  of  God  to  all  the  world; 
a  similar  fate  has  always  threatened  the  Chris- 
tian Church  (see  St.  Matt.  21:43  and  Rev. 
2:5).  And  what  is  true  of  the  whole  organiza- 
tion is  true  of  any  member  of  it.  A  member 
who  deliberately  disregards  the  purpose  for 
which  his  society  was  organized  and  chartered 
thereby  becomes,  at  the  least,  a  useless  and 
negligible  member  and  may  even  be  cut  off 
from  the  privileges  of  membership  altogether. 
If  one  tries  to  discover  the  Church's  charter 
or  act  of  incorporation,  it  would  obviously  be 
looked  for  in  some  outstanding  statement  on 
the  part  of  its  supreme  Head,  addressed  to  the 
whole  society  immediately  before  its  organiza- 
tion. Such  a  statement  we  actually  do  find  in, 
and  only  in,  the  Great  Commission.     Even  if, 

123 


The  Church's  Life 

then,  we  think  of  the  Church  as  merely  a 
divinely  inspired  human  organization,  disre- 
gard of  Jesus  Christ's  final  command,  whether 
by  the  Church  as  a  whole  or  by  any  individual 
member  of  it,  involves  very  serious  conse- 
quences. This  is  not  a  remarkably  high  mo- 
tive, I  grant — fear  of  consequences  never  is; 
but  it  is  a  motive.  To  risk  forfeiting  a  share 
in  the  mercies  of  God,  covenanted  or  uncov- 
enanted,  is  a  very  hazardous  proceeding;  to 
minimize  or  misinterpret  our  Lord's  last  com- 
mand is  a  very  disloyal  one.  If  we  conceive 
of  the  Church  as  an  organism — the  Body  of 
Christ — representing  Him  here  on  earth, 
carrying  on  His  life  and  work;  and  we  our- 
selves as  "very  members  incorporate"  in  that 
Body,  surely  the  function  of  every  Christian 
is  perfectly  evident.  The  supreme  objective  of 
every  living  organism  is  to  propagate  its  spe- 
cies by  the  handing  on  of  its  own  life.  Every- 
thing is  adapted  to  that  end;  nature  exhibits 
the  most  astonishing  ingenuity  in  attaining 
that  end.  An  organism  unfitted  to  reproduce 
is  an  abnormal  thing;  one  unwilling  to  repro- 
duce falls  short,  as  a  rule,  of  its  highest  pur- 
pose. Self-preservation  and  reproduction  are 
the  two  dominant  factors  in  the  organic  world ; 
and,  of  the  two,  the  latter  is  possibly  the  more 
deep-seated  and  inherent.  That  is,  the  instinct 
to  hand  on  the  collective  life,  rather  than  the 
mere  fear  of  losing  individual  life,  is  probably 
at  the  root  of  the  instinct  of  self-preservation. 

124 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

Apply  this  to  the  spiritual  organism — the 
Church.  The  Church  was  born  and  put  into 
the  world  to  act  as  Christ  did;  to  serve  as  He 
served;  to  proclaim,  by  life  and  word,  a  mes- 
sage from  God  as  He  proclaimed  it ;  but,  above 
all,  to  transmit  the  more  abundant  life  which 
she  has  received  from  the  living  God  in  Christ. 
So  you  and  I  were  made  members  of  Christ  in 
Baptism  for  one  main  purpose  only — to  hand 
on  to  others  the  life  which  we  have  received  so 
abundantly,  whether  it  be  physical,  mental,  or 
spiritual.  For  this  reason  we  pray,  as  pre- 
viously noted,  "God  be  merciful  unto  us  and 
bless  us,  (in  order)  that  Thy  way  may  be 
known  upon  earth,  Thy  saving  health  among 
all  nations."  Whenever  we  ignore  our  mis- 
sionary, life-giving  calling,  and  to  the  extent 
that  we  ignore  it,  we  cut  ourselves  off  from 
the  living  Body  of  Christ,  or,  if  not  cut  off,  we 
become  useless  and  possibly  a  menace  to  its 
health. 

Of  course  if  we  regard  ourselves  as  purely 
individual  Christians,  and  our  relation  to  God 
as  a  purely  personal  matter,  the  case  may  be 
different;  but  if  we  recognize  definite  relation- 
ships either  to  an  organization  or  to  a  living 
organism,  we  must,  in  the  one  case,  help  ful- 
fill the  aim  for  which  our  organization  was 
chartered;  or,  in  the  other,  reproduce  the  life 
entrusted  to  us  for  that  purpose.  In  either 
case,  we  must  do  it  with  all  our  might  and 

125 


The  Church's  Life 

with  settled  determination,  or  face  the  risk  of 
losing  either  our  fellowship  or  our  life. 

I  have  applied  this  reasoning  to  every  fol- 
lower and  member  of  Christ.  But  you  will  find 
many  persons  (possibly  a  mirror  will  show  you 
one)  who  tacitly  assume  or  actually  state  that 
our  Lord's  command  was  given  only  to  His 
Apostles  and  therefore  that,  by  implication,  He 
intended  to  limit  the  Great  Commission  to  a 
body  of  men  set  apart  for  the  purpose.  I  re- 
member once  hearing  a  deaconess  whose  life- 
work  lay  in  a  busy  down-town  parish,  say  that 
she  had  never  worked  in  the  mission-field — an 
astounding  statement  from  one  who  passed 
every  day  of  her  life  in  just  such  a  field.  But 
she  was  only  voicing  the  very  common  and 
pernicious  idea  that  to  be  a  "missionary"  in- 
volves going  away  somewhere.  Suggest  to  an 
average  Church  boy  that  he  become  a  mis- 
sionary, and  he  immediately  shows  you  that, 
in  his  opinion,  you  have  proposed  to  him  an 
extraordinary  and  abnormal  career;  and  this 
because  he  has  imbibed,  from  all  that  he  has 
seen  and  heard,  the  strange  misconception  that 
ministers  always  have  to  be  ordained  men,  and 
that  our  Lord  entrusted  His  mission  to  them 
alone  in  the  person  of  the  Apostles.  Presently 
the  average  boy  becomes  the  average  layman, 
still  imbued  with  the  deep-rooted  idea  that  he 
has  united  with  others  in  hiring  an  ordained 
man  to  act  for  him  as  parish  priest,  preacher 
and  pastor — in  other  words,  to  do  all  the  "re- 

126 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

ligious  work"  in  the  community — and  that  oc- 
casionally God  calls  one  of  these  men,  or  per- 
haps even  a  layman  like  himself,  to  become  a 
"missionary,"  and  to  be  regarded  henceforth 
by  him  with  a  sort  of  wondering  aloofness  as 
an  extremely  peculiar  person  dedicated  to  the 
task  of  "converting  the  heathen."  It  never 
seems  to  occur  to  this  average  layman  that  he 
himself  is  a  missionary  by  the  very  terms  of 
his  membership  in  the  Church;  that  his  mis- 
sion is  to  the  bodies  and  minds  and  souls  of 
every  one  in  need  right  where  he  is ;  and  that, 
unless  he  has  spent  his  life  in  solitary  confine- 
ment, he  has  been  brought  up  all  his  life  in'  a 
mission-field,  and  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
heathen.  This  is  simply  because  he  has  never 
really  read  the  Book  of  the  Acts. 

If  we  turn  to  that  record  of  the  life  of  the 
early  Church,  we  find  that  it  was  some  time 
before  the  members  of  the  Church  began  to 
realize  that  the  Lord's  command  was  intended 
for  every  one  of  them  and  that  "all  the  world" 
meant  something  more  than  Jerusalem  or  even 
Judaea.  Small  blame  to  them  perhaps;  cer- 
tainly less  than  to  us  nowadays !  For  they  had 
been  told  to  wait  in  Jerusalem  until  the  Day 
of  Pentecost  and  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
with  power ;  then  they  had  immediately  found 
abundant  opportunity  to  exercise  their  new- 
found powers  right  where  they  were.  The 
Church  in  Jerusalem  grew  with  astonishing 
rapidity,  and  was  held  in  awed  repute  by  the 

127 


The  Church's  Life 

city  crowds;  the  Supreme  Court  and  other 
rulers  threatened,  it  is  true,  but  the  members 
of  the  Church  had  abundant  evidence  that  the 
powers  of  God  were  on  their  side;  money 
poured  into  their  common  treasury,  enabling 
every  Church-member  to  be  comfortably  pro- 
vided for;  and  everything  was  favorable  in 
Jerusalem. 

But  evidently  the  Church  was  too  much  "at 
ease  in  Zion"  to  suit  the  plans  of  God.  If  she 
declined  to  follow  the  missionary  Christ  of  her 
own  free  will,  she  must  be  driven  to.  To  ac- 
complish this  result  God  sacrificed  one  of  His 
ablest  servants — a  man  who  apparently  had  a 
great  Christian  career  before  him  and  who 
could  be  ill  spared  from  any  work  contemplat- 
ing missions  to  the  Gentiles,  even  though  he 
was  not  an  Apostle.  Stephen — a  "Grecian" 
Jew,  a  deacon,  and  a  man  "full  of  grace  and 
power" — fell  a  victim  to  the  mob  and  was 
stoned  to  death.  So  God  worked  His  will  for 
the  Church,  for  "there  arose  on  that  day  a 
great  persecution  against  the  church  which  was 
in  Jerusalem;  and  they  were  all  scattered 
abroad  .  .  .  except  the  Apostles"  And  they 
"that  were  scattered  abroad  went  about  preach- 
ing the  word"  (Acts  8:1,  4).  Who  were  these 
peopfe  who  went  about  preaching?  Only  a 
single  ordained  man  is  mentioned  by  name; 
the  vast  majority  of  them  must  have  been  lay 
people,  and  the  only  members  of  the  Church 
not  thus  forced  to  exercise  their  "missionary" 

128 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

calling  were  those  very  Apostles  to  whom 
alone,  according  to  our  average  layman,  Christ 
had  committed  His  mission  and  who  were 
therefore  properly  to  be  called  "missionaries." 
This  was  undoubtedly  a  stern  method  by 
which  to  arouse  the  members  of  the  infant 
Church  to  their  duty,  but  apparently  none 
other  was  adequate  at  the  moment.  At  any 
rate  it  suffices  to  show  us  today  that  our  Lord's 
command  was  intended  to  apply  to  every  mem- 
ber of  His  Church,  clerical  and  lay,  ordained 
and  not  ordained ;  and  that  every  Christian  is 
bound  to  take  a  personal  and  active  part  in 
fulfilling  that  command.  Indeed,  the  same  two- 
fold obligation  rests  upon  every  member  of  the 
Church  today,  as  in  those  early  times :  "They 
continued  steadfastly  in  the  apostles'  teaching 
and  fellowship,  in  the  breaking  of  bread  and 
the  prayers"  (Acts  2:42);  and  they  so  con- 
tinued in  order  that  they  might  "go  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole 
creation"  (St.  Mark  16:15).  These  two  say- 
ings present  a  very  fair  definition  of  what  it 
means  to  be  a  Christian.  The  first  represents 
Christians  as  those  who  are  something,  that 
is,  steadfast  in  accepting  the  doctrine  which 
the  Apostles  taught  and  transforming  it  into 
daily  practice;  steadfast  in  maintaining,  to- 
gether with  the  Apostles,  their  fellowship  and 
unity  in  the  Body;  steadfast  in  recalling  and 
confirming  that  unity  by  the  constant  receiv- 
ing of  the  Holy  Communion;  and  steadfast  in 

129 


The  Church's  Life 

joining  in  a  form  of  common  worship  peculiar 
to  the  Christian  Church.  There  was  nothing 
else  to  distinguish  those  early  Christians  from 
their  fellow-Jews.  They  lived  like  Jews,  they 
held  to  Jewish  customs  and  observances,  they 
maintained  their  relations  with  synagogue  and 
temple,  there  was  no  sharp  break  with  Juda- 
ism; but  in  the  mass  of  Judaism  they  formed 
a  little  nucleus,  and,  by  noting  their  loyalty  to 
one  another,  their  meetings  together  for  spe- 
cial forms  of  worship,  and,  above  all,  their  con- 
sciousness of  a  new  life  thrilling  and  trans- 
forming them,  it  was  easy  to  tell  who  were 
Christians. 

The  second  saying  represents  Christians  as 
those  who  are  doing  something.  Not  only 
were  they  living  a  different  life,  with  new 
motives,  new  courage,  new  understanding, 
new  ideals;  but  they  were  going  everywhere, 
"preaching  the  word" — not  orally  always,  but 
by  example,  by  evidences  of  power;  and,  fur- 
thermore, in  expressed  obedience  to  a  command 
from  God.  They  had  witnessed  a  stupendous 
event ;  they  had  shared  in  a  resurrection ;  they 
knew  a  power  capable  of  turning  the  world 
upside  down  and  transforming  it  into  a  King- 
dom where  the  righteousness  of  God  should 
inspire  and  control  every  act  of  man ;  and  this 
good  news  each  one  of  them  felt  bound  to 
announce,  this  transformation  each  one  felt 
bound  to  promote.  "We  cannot  but  speak  the 
things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard" — this 

130 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

was  the  real  compulsion  which  persecution 
merely  made  effective.  For  this,  no  ordina- 
tion was  essential.  The  layman,  whatever 
business  or  occupation  he  might  pursue,  felt 
the  demands  of  one  great  profession — that  of 
the  missionary,  and  he  would  have  been  beyond 
measure  puzzled  if  he  had  found  among  "the 
prayers"  such  an  one  as  that  with  which  many 
modern  Church  people  are  familiar,  containing 
the  petition,  "We  commend  to  thy  fatherly  care 
all  whom  thou  hast  called  to  take  part  in  the 
missionary  work  of  thy  Church. "  For,  in  the 
only  Christian  community  which  he  knew  any- 
thing about,  every  one  was  a  missionary,  keen 
to  tell  what  he  himself  had  seen  and  heard 
and  experienced;  and  the  kind  of  prayer  with 
which  he  was  becoming  most  familiar  was, 
"Now,  Lord,  grant  unto  thy  servants  to  speak 
thy  word  with  all  boldness,  while  thou  stretchi- 
est forth  thy  hand  to  heal"  (Acts  4:29,  30). 

It  was  by  these  marks,  then,  that  an  observer 
in  the  first  century  could  readily  distinguish  a 
Christian  from  other  people:  the  Christian  was 
seen  to  withdraw  himself  frequently  into  the 
fellowship  of  his  beloved  community,  there  to 
meet  his  Lord  in  prayer  and  in  the  blessed 
Sacrament;  and  hence  he  was  seen  to  issue 
eagerly  to  apply  to  the  needs  of  all  men  every- 
where the  principles  of  the  Life  which  he  had 
received,  the  Truth  which  had  been  revealed 
to  him,  and  the  Way  which  led  to  the  Father. 

If  this  was  true  of  the  first  century,  why  not 
131 


The  Church's  Life 

of  the  twentieth  ?  Where  shall  we  find  a  tetter 
or  simpler  definition  of  the  much-defined  noun 
"Christian"  than  this:  one  who  continues 
"steadfastly  in  the  apostles'  teaching  and  fel- 
lowship, in  the  breaking  of  bread  and  the 
prayers";  and  who  "goes  into  all  the  world, 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation"? 
No  matter  what  his  avocation,  this  surely  is 
the  profession  of  every  Christian,  for  "Bap- 
tism doth  represent  unto  us  our  profession; 
which  is,  to  follow  the  example  of  our  Saviour 
Christ,  and  to  be  made  like  unto  him"  (Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  p.  251). 

And  what  is  true  of  the  individual  Christian, 
is  equally  and  even  more  evidently  true  of  the 
whole  Church.  For  she  is  the  bodily  Presence 
of  Christ  on  earth  and  therefore  must,  in  the 
very  nature  of  things,  have  aims  and  do  works 
identical  in  every  respect  with  His.  She  is  a 
life-saver  to  bring  life  to  dying  souls.  She  is 
a  militant  body,  to  fight  everywhere,  in  Christ's 
name  and  as  He  did,  against  disease  and  ig- 
norance and  sin. 

Apply  this,  if  you  like,  to  your  own  parish! 
What  reason  for  existence  has  your  parish 
church  with  its  body  of  believers?  Of  course 
the  building  is  there  for  the  use  of  all  who 
desire  to  unite  in  the  common  worship  of  God; 
it  is  warmed  and  lighted  and  otherwise  made  as 
comfortable  as  is  thought  necessary;  it  is  en- 
riched and  beautified  as  is  fitting  for  a  place 
set  apart  as  a  temple  consecrated  to  God's 

132 


The  Great  Charter  of  the  Church 

presence  and  use ;  everything  is  done  to  insure 
that  His  true  and  living  Word  may  be  effec- 
tively set  forth  and  His  holy  Sacraments  be 
rightly  and  duly  administered,  that  so  the  body 
of  believers  may  be  nurtured  in  the  Faith 
and  their  souls  continually  strengthened.  But 
surely  this  is  not  all.  Is  it,  indeed,  more  than 
a  means  to  an  end?  A  life-saving  station  has 
its  comfortable  quarters  for  its  men  where  they 
can  be  drilled  and  exercised  in  order  to  keep 
fit;  its  well-appointed  life-boat  scrubbed  and 
neat,  brass-work  polished,  everything  in  place. 
But  what  for?  No  sensible  person  would 
dream  of  saying  that  the  men  were  cared  for 
in  order  that  they  might  become  types  of  phys- 
ical perfection,  or  that  the  boat  was  kept  in 
perfect  condition  in  order  to  be  looked  at.  No, 
all  this  is  in  order  that  boat  and  crew  may  at 
every  moment  be  ready  for  the  service  of  peo- 
ple in  desperate  need.  Everything  must  be 
made  subservient  to  this ;  nothing  must  be  per- 
mitted which  will  in  any  degree  detract  from 
the  most  instant  and  perfect  service.  During 
the  winter,  in  many  of  our  life-saving  stations 
along  the  coast,  the  crews  are  exhausted,  the 
boats  worn  and  battered.  All  honor  to  them ! 
These  are  the  evidences  that  they  have  nobly 
served  their  purpose.  There  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  a  parish  so  neat  and  well-ordered 
and  self-satisfied  and  forgetful  of  the  reason 
for  its  existence,  that  it  avoids  any  active  serv- 
ice for  fear  lest,  in  aiding  stricken  humanity, 

133 


The  Church's  Life 

it  might  spring  a  leak  itself  or  get  its  paint 
scratched.  Better  founder  in  service  than  rot 
in  disuse! 

So  the  function  of  any  militant  body  is  to 
fight  the  common  enemy.  I  recall  the  case  of  a 
family  who  for  years  had  housed  and  cared  for 
a  self-centered  relative,  hipped  on  himself  and 
generally  useless,  but  still  an  object  of  solicit- 
ous care.  The  children  had  been  taught  that 
"Uncle  George''  must  be  deferred  to,  spared 
all  unnecessary  steps  and  saved  in  every  way. 
Finally  one  of  the  youngsters  of  the  family, 
on  being  told  for  the  hundredth  time  to  run  an 
errand  for  Uncle  George  because  his  uncle 
"must  be  saved  as  much  as  possible,"  blurted 
out  the  natural  question,  "Mother,  what  in  the 
world  is  Uncle  George  being  saved  for?" 

It  might  be  well  for  the  parish  which  re- 
joices in  its  financial  safety  and  well-being, 
or  the  individual  who  believes  himself  to  be 
"saved,"  occasionally  to  ask,  "What  am  I  saved 
for?"  Happy  the  church,  the  parish  or  the 
individual  so  conscious  of  unity  with  Jesus 
Christ  that  the  one  aim  and  object  of  existence 
is  felt  to  be  the  daily  meeting  with  Him  in  His 
inner  sanctuary  in  order  to  go  out  with  Him 
to  all  the  world  even  at  the  cost  of  being 
scarred  and  bruised  and  worn  as  He  was,  and 
bearing  the  honorable  marks  of  His  service. 
"He  saved  others,  Himself  he  cannot  save," 
must  always  be  the  mark  of  the  Christian. 

134 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   CALL  TO  INTELLIGENCE 

I  spoke,  in  a  previous  chapter,  of  obedience 
to  our  Lord's  last  command  as  one  of  the  in- 
centives to  Christian  activity.  We  can  not 
with  impunity  evade  or  minimize  the  obliga- 
tion of  those  solemn  words,  "Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,"  even  though  our  "going"  may,  by  the 
circumstances  in  which  God  Himself  has 
placed  us,  be  restricted  in  area  or  confined  to 
the  activity  of  intelligent  praying,  intelligent 
giving,  etc. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Lord's  Prayer — the 
prayer  so  perfectly  characteristic  of  Him  and 
therefore  so  truly  "in  His  Name" — is  a  prayer 
the  central  and  dominant  note  of  which  is 
missionary  activity  on  the  part  of  the  mem- 
bers of  God's  family  toward  every  human 
being  as  yet  outside  that  family.  I  hope,  too, 
that  whether  we  regard  the  Church  as  a  mere 
organization  to  be  split  up  and  re-formed  at 
man's  will,  or  whether  we  regard  it  as  a  liv- 
ing organism  not  to  be  torn  in  pieces  except 
with  agony  and  loss  of  power,  we  have  also 
seen  that  the  final  command  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  charter  which  can  not  be' 

135 


The  Church's  Life 

ignored  if  the  organization  is  to  continue,  and 
that  obedience  to  it  is  an  evidence  of  life  which 
no  member  can  surrender  and  yet  remain  as 
other  than  a  useless  or  harmful  portion  of  the 
Body. 

To  the  loyal  soldier  and  servant,  disobedi- 
ence is  a  cardinal  sin;  to  the  living  member  of 
a  body  amputation  spells  death.  There  can  be 
no  question  but  that  God  can  not  abide  either 
an  inactive  Church  or  an  inactive  member  of 
His  Church.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  exam- 
ple of  this  was  the  violence  with  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  He  drove  the  early  Christians  away 
from  Jerusalem. 

The  objection  will  at  once  be  raised  that  the 
disciples  could  not  have  felt  very  strongly — 
no  more  strongly  in  fact  than  most  of  us  do — 
the  mandatory  quality  of  their  Master's  last 
command,  if  a  catastrophe  was  needed  to  im- 
press it  upon  them.  To  this  it  may  be  replied 
that  many  circumstances  combined  to  make 
them  temporarily  forgetful  of  it.  There  was 
evidence  of  the  desperate  need  of  the  good 
news  where  they  were ;  they  were  meeting  with 
phenomenal  success;  the  new  spirit  of  brother- 
hood had  produced  in  the  Church  a  condition 
of  ease  and  well-being  hard  to  relinquish; 
parochialism  had  seized  upon  them.  No  won- 
der that  they  postponed  literal  obedience  to 
the  Lord's  command  and  forgot  the  way  in 
which  He  once  turned  His  back  on  the  bitter 
need  of  His  fellow-townsmen  of  Capernaum 

136 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

in  order  to  carry  His  message  to  the  "next 
towns"  as  well!  One  must  remember  also  that 
it  was  not  many,  even  of  the  original  disciples, 
who  had  heard  His  imperious  missionary  com- 
mand. It  had  doubtless  been  repeated  to  others 
by  those  who  had  heard  it,  but  it  had  not  yet 
become  part  of  a  written  gospel,  the  common 
property  of  all,  read  and  known  by  every  one. 
The  moment,  however,  that  they  were  forced 
out  of  Jerusalem,  they  showed  the  same  eager 
spirit,  as  bearers  of  a  good  message,  which 
they  had  shown  within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
What  they  had  been  doing  intensively,  they 
now  did  extensively.  They  had  found  the  way 
of  life — nay,  they  had  found  Life  itself,  and 
they  couldn't  keep  it  to  themselves.  No  mere 
command  to  carry  the  good  news  was  neces- 
sary; they  felt  what  a  modern  writer  has  ex- 
pressed— "He  who  has  what  the  world  lacks 
is  a  debtor  to  the  world/'  It  was  not  obedience 
to  an  outward  command  so  much  as  the  inner 
compulsion  of  a  joyous  assurance  which  made 
these  early  Christians  "go  everywhere,  preach- 
ing the  word/'  when  once  they  had  been  forced 
to  look  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  own  neigh- 
borhood. They  unconsciously  imitated  the 
Christ  without  consciously  obeying  His  com- 
mand; and  the  more  they  saw  of  the  world's 
need,  the  farther  they  went  bearing  the  answer 
to  it.  Obedience  to  the  Lord's  command,  then, 
is  not  for  us,  any  more  than  it  was  for  them, 
a  primary  incentive  to  missionary  interest  and 

137 


The  Church's  Life 

activity.  His  commands,  however,  are  neces- 
sary in  order  to  stimulate  some  of  us  to  such 
activity,  and  it  may  be  well  therefore  to  ex- 
amine what  He  said  further  by  way  of  com- 
mand along  this  line. 

I  wonder  if  any  one  ever  became  really  in- 
terested in  any  great  cause  without  knowing 
something  about  it?  A  certain  author  has,  I 
believe,  recently  written  a  book  or  an  article 
with  the  title,  On  the  Ad  oral  Obligation  of 
Being  Intelligent,  It  is  a  striking  phrase  be- 
cause it  is  true.  The  more  a  project  or  a  cause 
involves  distinctly  moral  issues,  the  more  a 
man  is  morally  bound  to  learn  all  he  can  about 
it  in  order  to  give  or  withhold  his  support  on 
intelligent  grounds.  It  was  surely  so  in  the 
case  of  the  recent  war.  If  the  American 
Government  had  been  content  merely  to  an- 
nounce casually  that  there  was  a  war  going 
on  somewhere  in  Europe;  that  people  at  all 
interested  could  read  something  about  it  in  the 
Congressional  Record;  that  it  had  some  ill- 
defined  relation  to  this  country;  and  that  if 
any  one  cared  to  take  an  active  part  in  it,  there 
was  a  recruiting  station  somewhere — if  such 
had  been  the  course  followed,  the  German 
Kaiser  would  today  represent  the  only  power 
in  the  world.  Fortunately,  things  were  not 
done  that  way.  Our  public  men  were  deter- 
mined, from  the  outset,  that,  however  we  might 
individually  regard  war  in  itself,  we  should 
not  be   allowed  to   remain   unintelligent   re- 

138 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

garding  this  war.  The  press  got  busy;  dis- 
tinguished authors  wrote  books;  the  cables 
brought  news  which  was  at  once  published; 
every  single  man  of  us,  when  he  came  down  to 
breakfast,  instantly  seized  the  paper  to  scan 
the  war-news;  to  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
land  went  information  as  to  what  the  war  was 
about,  which  side  had  temporarily  the  upper 
hand,  and  what  dangers  threatened  in  case 
Germany  should  win  out.  The  consequence 
was  that  interest  in  the  war  and  in  our  share 
in  it  was  aroused  in  every  quarter ;  and  though, 
in  the  opinion  of  many,  the  United  States 
might  have  gone  in  earlier,  it  is  certain  that 
when  we  did  go  in,  we  did  so  intelligently, 
knowing  perfectly  well  why  we  were  doing  it. 
To  have  been  unintelligent  in  the  matter  would 
have  been  immoral,  since  the  issues  at  stake 
were  moral  issues.  Having  become  intelligent, 
we  bent  our  backs  to  the  huge  task,  and  we  did 
it  thoroughly.  We  sent  our  sons  to  undergo 
rigorous  training  preparatory  to  facing  hor- 
rors and  death;  every  pair  of  hands  debarred 
from  fighting  was  busy  in  one  or  more  of  in- 
numerable ways,  all  with  a  view  to  winning 
the  war ;  we  prayed  and  studied  and  read ;  we 
were  elated  by  news  of  victories  and  depressed 
by  news  of  defeats;  all  this  and  more  we  did 
because  we  were  intelligently  interested. 

Perhaps  it  is  needless  to  draw  a  comparison 
between  this  attitude  of  mind  toward  the 
European  War  and  the  attitude  of  the  average 

139 


The  Church's  Life 

Churchman  toward  the  far  greater  war,  in- 
volving vaster  issues,  in  which  the  Church  is 
engaged.  Regarding  this,  the  ordinary  run 
of  Church  people  are  absolutely  unintelligent. 
They  read  little  about  it  and  study  less;  they 
know  nothing  about  where  it  is  being  waged 
or  what  are  the  strategic  points;  they  are  ig- 
norant of  the  great  leaders,  even  their  names; 
they  have  only  the  vaguest  idea  of  what  it  is 
about;  victory  and  defeat  alike  leave  them  cold. 
Of  course,  under  these  circumstances,  the  sug- 
gestion from  one  of  their  sons  that  he  is  con- 
sidering, as  his  career,  the  hard  life  of  an 
active  fighter,  whether  in  the  ranks  or  as  an 
officer,  is  usually  met  with  the  barest  tolerance, 
if  not  with  all  possible  discouragement. 
"There's  nothing  in  the  ministry,  my  boy,  for 
a  man  who  really  wants  to  get  on."  How 
familiar  it  sounds!  And  when  it  comes  to 
giving  to  his  central  board  of  strategy  the 
money  necessary  in  order  that  the  war  may  be 
prosecuted  to  a  successful  end,  no  wonder  that, 
for  years  past,  the  average  communicant  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  has  been  content  with  a 
gift  of  less  than  three  cents  a  week!  He  has 
no  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  cause 
he  is  asked  to  give  to,  or  of  the  tremendous 
issues  involved.  The  trouble  is  that  he  is 
guilty  of  the  sin  of  willing  stupidity;  he  is  im- 
moral because  unintelligent  toward  the  su- 
preme objective  for  which  the  Church  is  work- 
ing and  fighting. 

140 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

Long  ago,  our  Lord  put  to  His  disciples  a 
most  searching  question:  "What  do  ye  more 
than  others?"  (St.  Matt.  5:47).  The  varied 
activities  mentioned  above,  in  connection  with 
the  war,  had  no  distinctively  Christian  charac- 
ter ;  every  one — Christians  and  non-Christians 
alike — joined  in  them.  What  distinctively 
Christian  efforts  toward  victory  were  made  by 
us;  what  did  we  Christians  do  more  than 
others?  If  the  war  was  really  fought  to  bring 
in  peace  and  righteousness  on  earth,  is  not  this 
the  very  objective  of  the  Church's  warfare 
always  ?  What  are  we  doing  more  than  others, 
to  attain  this  object?  We  rejoice  that  we  are 
members  of  a  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church; 
what  do  we  more  than  others  ?  We  occupy  a 
certain  position  in  the  Church;  what  do  we 
more  than  others?  It  is  no  general  average  of 
intelligence  or  interest  or  activity  that  is  im- 
plied in  our  Lord's  question,  for  He  follows  it 
at  once  with  the  statement,  "Ye  therefore  shall 
be  perfect."  Whatever  others  may  do  or  leave 
undone,  "What  is  that  to  thee?  Follow  thou 
Me." 

Now  our  Lord's  first  command  regarding 
missionary  activity  is  in  the  line  of  acquired 
intelligence.  He  never  approved  of  an  unin- 
telligent ordained  or  unordained  ministry ;  still 
less  of  a  ministry  based  on  anything  other  than 
a  knowledge  of  the  world's  need,  so  far  as  it 
could  be  seen.  His  first  command,  therefore, 
is  "Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields" 

141 


The  Church's  Life 

( St.  John  4:35).  The  circumstances  which  gave 
rise  to  this  command  were  rather  interesting. 
He  had  just  succeeded  in  piercing  the  hardened 
conscience  of  a  despised  Samaritan  woman. 
His  disciples,  who  had  left  Him  outside  of  the 
town  in  order  to  get  some  food,  were  not  a 
little  scandalized,  on  rejoining  Him,  at  finding 
what  He  had  been  about — actually  conversing 
familiarly  and  at  some  length  with  a  woman 
with  whom  they,  for  many  reasons,  would  have 
had  no  dealings  whatever.  The  woman  had 
returned  to  town  somewhat  hastily,  and  now, 
there  she  was  coming  back  again  along  the 
dusty  road,  and  with  her  a  train  of  white-clacf 
townspeople.  Here  are  foreign  missions  ap- 
proaching, led  by  rumors  of  good  news  brought 
by  a  woman.  "Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look/' 
says  our  Lord.  "See  the  need — the  oppor- 
tunity." And  the  result?  The  need  is  made 
evident  even  to  those  Jewish  men;  prejudice 
and  indifference  vanish  before  it,  and  for  two 
days  they  actually  take  up  their  quarters 
with  the  hateful  Samaritans — working  among 
them?  Perhaps — but  at  least  watching  their 
Master  as  He  shows  them  His  saving  power. 
More  than  this.  When,  months  afterwards, 
Philip  goes  to  that  same  city  proclaiming  what 
these  Samaritans  had  before  only  dimly  seen, 
the  results  are  simply  marvelous,  and  all  be- 
cause other  disciples  had  followed  their  Mas- 
ter's first  missionary  command  in  taking  the 

142 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

trouble  to  lift  up  their  eyes  and  look  on  one 
small  fraction  of  the  world's  need. 

It  was  quite  the  same  in  Christ's  own  home- 
mission  field.  Throughout  the  neighborhood 
of  Capernaum  He  sees  the  pitiable  needs  of 
the  multitude,  physical  and  spiritual  (St. 
Matt.  9:36,  37)-  It  stirs  Him  profoundly,  and 
He  just  begs  the  disciples  to  note  it,  too — the 
desperate  need — so  little  to  meet  it  with. 

This,  then,  is  the  command  which  precedes 
all  others,  on  which  in  fact  depends  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  others ;  and  it  was  this  command 
which,  of  late,  the  American  Church  obeyed 
for  the  first  time  in  all  her  history.  General 
Convention,  in  1919,  gave  its  sanction  to  a 
Survey  which  had  been  previously  undertaken. 
That  survey  was  hardly  more  than  a  glance  at 
the  opportunities  at  home;  it  covered  overseas 
only  those  limited  areas  in  which  the  American 
Church  is  in  some  measure  attempting  to  ful- 
fill her  mission;  it  naturally  could  not  even 
mention  the  activities  of  other  Christian  com- 
munions much  larger  than  her  own.  But  it  did 
afford  a  glimpse,  and  through  it  every  Church- 
man had  an  opportunity  to  lift  up  his  eyes  and 
look  on  the  fields  in  order  to  judge  intelligently 
of  the  opportunity  and  to  act  accordingly. 

If  he  took  this  means  of  becoming  intelligent, 
which  the  Church  provided,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  he  could  have  been  other  than  driven  to 
fulfill  our  Lord's  second  missionary  command. 
The  need  is  staggering;  so  much  he  must  have 

143 


The  Church's  Life 

realized.  No  human  being  can  look  at  it  with- 
out feeling  his  impotence  in  face  of  it.  "There- 
fore," says  the  Master,  "pray  ye  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  that  He  send  forth  labourers  into 
his  harvest"  (St.  Matt.  19:38).  More  and 
better  Christians — that  is  what  is  needed ;  more 
intelligent  zeal;  a  deeper  sense  of  the  joy  of 
giving  money  wisely  and  seeing  it  work;  a 
more  manifest  giving  of  personal  service  to 
meet  a  definite  need. 

It  is  odd  how  instinctively  I  apply  the  prayer 
for  laborers  to  almost  any  one  but  myself.  As 
pne  of  our  bishops  wittily  said,  "The  average 
Christian  answers  God's  call  to  service  much 
as  Isaiah  did,  only  with  the  change  of  one 
pronoun,  'And  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
saying,  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for 
us  ?  Then  I  said,  Here  am  I,  send  him!  "  It 
is  quite  time  that  we  realized  that  when  a  man 
prays  God  to  send  forth  laborers,  one  of  those 
laborers  must  assuredly  be  the  man  himself. 
It  is  a  prayer  for  increased  activity  in  personal 
service,  and  it  makes  little  difference  where  or 
how  that  service  is  given,  whether  in  New 
York  or  Shanghai,  so  long  as  it  is  deliberately 
intended  to  meet  a  specific  need,  and  is  most 
liberally  given  where  the  need  is  seen  to  be 
greatest. 

It  might  be  added  that  in  these  days  the 
sending  of  laborers  to  fields  where  the  need  is 
greatest  involves  a  considerable  expenditure 
of  money.    Many  a  man  keeps  a  laborer  in  his 

144 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

pocket-book ;  all  that  is  needed  is  to  let  him  out. 
So  our  Lord  adds  to  "looking"  and  "praying" 
a  third  missionary  command,  "Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give"  (St.  Matt.  10:8).  He 
was  referring,  of  course,  to  power — the  power 
to  heal,  to  exorcise,  to  give  life;  but,  after  all, 
is  not  money  a  form,  of  power?  Of  this  the 
disciples  had  none,  and  naturally  they  couldn't 
give  what  they  didn't  have;  but  always  they 
did  as  they  had  been  told  to  do.  "Such  as  I 
have  give  I  thee."  What  they  gave  was  much 
more  valuable  than  "silver  and  gold"  of  which 
they  had  none ;  but,  equally  with  them,  we  have 
power  and  the  means  of  setting  power  free  to 
act.  Offer  this  power  to  God  and  all  of  it  will 
be  used;  keep  it  yourself  and  much  of  it  will  be 
abused.  Again,  the  command  to  give  is  closely 
connected  with  the  command  to  pray.  It  is  a 
poor  prayer  which  counts  on  God's  activity  and 
not  at  all  on  our  own.  What  of  good  a  man 
desires  for  himself  or  others,  he  can  never  be 
content  merely  to  pray  for;  he  must  also  give 
whatever  he  has  to  give.  To  pray  for  the 
Church's  mission  and  at  the  same  time  to  give 
to  it  only  a  minute  proportion  of  our  money 
is  a  form  of  mocking  God.  Prayer,  too,  is  an 
essential  means  of  increasing  our  desire  to 
give.  Indeed,  St.  Paul  considers  liberality  as 
a  grace — as  a  gift  from  God — like  love  and 
faith  and  hope  and  other  Christian  graces. 
Those  who  find  it  hard  to  give  freely  (usually 
the  rich)    should  read  the  eighth  and  ninth 

145 


The  Church's  Life 

chapters  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, and  see  how  St.  Paul,  in  urging-  liber- 
ality, refers  to  it  not  as  an  inherent  quality 
or  as  one  easily  acquired,  but  as  a  direct  gift 
from  God,  to  be  prayed  for  and  earnestly  culti- 
vated. Possibly  the  trouble  with  the  average 
Christian  is  that  while  he  has  prayed  for  mercy 
and  forgiveness  and  holiness,  he  has  never 
asked  God  to  give  him  willingness  to  part  with 
his  money  freely,  gladly,  and  intelligently.  It 
is  a  grace  which  comes  with  praying  and  in- 
creases with  use.  Only  after  the  disciples  had 
obeyed  the  commands  to  "Look,"  to  "Pray," 
and  to  "Give,"  were  they  fully  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  final  command  to  "Go."  Evidently 
much  preparation  is  required  for  intelligent 
activity  in  the  Church's  mission.  We  have 
already  discussed  sufficiently  the  meaning  and 
the  mandatory  character  of  the  Great  Com- 
mission. Llere,  therefore,  let  me  merely  point 
out  that  in  attempting  to  fulfill  the  command 
to  get  busy,  without  any  definite  knowledge  of 
the  needs  which  call  for  our  activity  and  with- 
out any  prayer  for  increased  willingness  to 
offer  ourselves  with  whatever  we  may  have 
besides,  the  chances  are  that  we  shall  merely 
make  a  botch  of  it  and  get  in  the  way  of  those 
who  are  really  working  intelligently.  God  has 
joined  together  zeal  and  discretion;  let  no  man 
put  them  asunder. 

So  much  for  the  incentive  of  our  Lord's 
commands  to  us  concerning  the  mission  of  His 

146 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

Church  to  all  the  world.  That  obedience  is  a 
primary  motive  in  the  mind  of  a  soldier  and 
servant,  no  one,  I  suppose,  would  deny.  But 
it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  mere  obedience  to 
a  "Thou  shalt,"  is  ever  the  highest  motive  for 
a  soldier  of  Christ;  it  is  doubtful  if  the  early 
Christians  would  ever  have  given  this  as  the 
incentive  to  ,their  activity.  No !  What  drove 
them  out  was  a  remarkable  experience  which 
they  had  had — an  experience  which  had  made 
new  men  of  them,  and  regarding  which  they 
simply  couldn't  keep  still. 

A  few  pages  back,  I  tried  to  picture  the  un- 
intelligent, unsympathetic  attitude  of  the  aver- 
age Churchman  toward  the  Church's  war,  and 
I  contrasted  it  with  his  well-informed,  alert, 
indomitable  activity  in  the  European  war.  I 
think  the  picture  was  a  fair  one — the  analogy 
measurably  warrantable.  There  can  be  no 
question  but  that  the  prevailing  attitude  of 
mind,  on  the  part  of  Christians,  toward  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  the  coming  of  God's  King- 
dom on  earth ;  and,  above  all,  toward  their  own 
personal  experience  of  the  saving  power  of 
Christ,  of  the  new  life  born  in  them,  and  of 
their  glorious  destiny  as  sons  of  God,  is  one 
of  haziness  and  half-hearted  acquiescence,  and 
a  sort  of  formal,  matter-of-course  acceptance. 
What  it  lacks  is  reality  and  dynamic.  How 
vastly  different  was  the  attitude  of  every  mem- 
ber of  the  early  Church  toward  the  Church's 
mission.     They    knew    for    themselves    what 

147 


The  Church's  Life 

Jesus  Christ — the  Captain  of  their  Salvation — 
had  done  for  them ;  they  felt  in  themselves  the 
surging  pulsation  of  a  new  life;  they  saw  only 
forces  of  destruction  in  a  world  ignorant  of 
their  Lord ;  and  every  fibre  in  their  being  was 
stirred  with  the  determination  to  bear  Him 
and  His  message  to  a  world  for  which  they 
knezv,  out  of  their  own  experience,  that  there 
could  be  no  other  possible  redemption.  This, 
I  take  it,  is  the  highest  motive  of  missionary 
activity  and  its  most  powerful  incentive.  "We 
cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  saw  and 
heard,"  was  the  answer  by  which  the  Apostles 
justified  themselves  for  continuing  their  work 
even  in  the  face  of  legal  restrictions.  So,  later, 
St.  Paul  refused  any  credit  for  preaching  the 
Gospel,  since  his  whole  personal  experience  of 
it  forbade  silence  regarding  it  (i  Cor.  9:16). 
It  must  be  the  same  today.  It  is  inconceivable 
that  any  man  who  has  really  had  the  full  per- 
sonal experience  of  Jesus  Christ  can  keep  it 
to  himself.  He  has  become  a  son  of  God — a 
member  of  Christ;  through  union  with  Christ 
he  has  entered  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  in 
which  unending  life  and  joy  and  peace  have 
become  his  rightful  possessions;  he  is  min- 
istered to  and  fed  by  Christ  Himself;  all  un- 
certainty and  fear  regarding  the  future  are 
removed;  in  the  peace  of  God  he  walks  in  the 
way  of  Christ.  Even  if  this  full  experience 
has,  as  yet,  been  denied  him,  surely  his  mem- 
bership in  the  family  of  God  must  mean  some- 
US 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

thing  to  him ;  he  must  find  in  it  some  advantage 
which  the  man  next  him  needs.  Take  a  simple 
illustration.  You  have  come  across  a  medicine 
which  claims  to  be  a  sure  cure  for  every 
physical  ailment.  You  try  it  for  a  headache 
and  experience  its  virtue ;  it  has  done  you  good. 
You  meet  a  friend,  suffering  as  you  did,  and 
the  first  thing  you  do  is  to  tell  him  of  the  new 
medicine.  The  chances  are  that  you  put  your- 
self to  some  trouble  to  search  out  people  who 
are  in  similar  need ;  you  may  conceivably  make 
rather  a  bore  of  yourself  through  your  enthu- 
siasm. It  is  an  unworthy  illustration,  but  the 
case  is  the  same  with  everything  which  benefits 
you.  Instinctively  you  recommend  it  to  others 
— you  advertise  it.  And  this  you  do,  not  neces- 
sarily by  talking — indeed  you  often  gain  more 
by  not  continually  talking.  Merely  your  con- 
stant use  of  a  certain  cereal  at  breakfast,  or  a 
special  kind  of  physical  exercise,  is  your  best 
advertisement  of  that  particular  thing  among 
your  friends.  They  see  that  you  enjoy  and  are 
benefited  by  it,  and  they  are  easily  led  to  try 
it  for  themselves.  So  with  a  man's  Christian- 
ity. If  it  means  anything  to  him  personally,  he 
instinctively  shows  it  to  his  neighbors.  He  is 
not  always  "talking  religion'' — God  forbid! — 
but  he  is,  at  least  to  some  extent,  an  illustra- 
tion of  what  Christianity  does.  We  have 
spoken  before  of  a  Christian  as  a  "witness." 
It  must  be  remembered  that  witnessing  is  not 
necessarily  done  in  words,  or  the  giving  of 

149 


The  Church's  Life 

testimony  by  talk.  Indeed,  "Actions  speak 
louder  than  words" — a  saying  peculiarly  appli- 
cable to  the  Christian.  One's  life  and  example 
at  home,  in  church,  at  school  or  in  one's  office 
is  stronger  evidence  for  or  against  what  one 
professes  to  believe  than  any  amount  of  talk. 
I  remember  being  present  on  one  occasion  at 
the  session  of  a  certain  Church  School.  When 
the  time  came  to  repeat  the  Creed,  the  children 
sprang  to  their  feet  and  stood  at  "attention" — 
heels  together,  arms  straight  at  their  sides, 
chests  out,  heads  up ;  then  with  one  voice  they 
made  that  splendid  statement  of  the  faith.  It 
was  enormously  impressive.  One  felt  that  the 
Creed  was  the  one  thing  that  mattered — the 
one  statement  of  absolute  truth,  and  that  those 
children  would  have  said  it  equally  boldly  if 
they  had  been  lined  up  in  front  of  a  firing- 
squad,  and  told  that  if  they  dared  to  repeat  it 
to  the  end  they  would  instantly  be  shot.  Every 
child  was,  at  that  moment,  a  potential  mis- 
sionary, for  I  am  quite  sure  that  had  an  un- 
believer listened  to  the  Creed  as  they  said  it, 
he  would  have  been  convinced  that  here  was 
something  worth  inquiring  into. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  this  need 
of  bearing  witness  to  a  personal  experience. 
Unless  the  experience  has  been  a  personal  one, 
it  hasn't  the  smallest  value  as  convincing  testi- 
mony. You  can  talk  till  doomsday  about  the 
virtues  of  a  certain  medicine,  but  the  inevitable 
question  will  be,  "Have  you  tried  it  yourself 

150 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

and  found  it  good?"  It  is  not  so  much  a  matter 
of  the  quantity  of  one's  experience  as  of  its 
quality.  A  man  may  be  able  to  say  with  assur- 
ance no  more  than  the  opening  sentence  of  the 
Creed.  Very  well ;  then  let  him  try  to  make  the 
one  fact  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  mean  some- 
thing of  worth  to  himself  first,  then  let  him 
make  it  in  some  way  influence  his  visible 
actions,  and  then  let  him  tell  another  man 
what  the  belief  has  meant  to  him.  Or  perhaps 
the  benefits  of  church-going  are,  for  you, 
summed  up  in  the  pleasure  of  hearing  good 
music  or  a  thoughtful  sermon;  even  this  is 
worth  something  to  you,  an  invitation  to  a 
friend  to  go  with  you  and  share  what  pleases 
you  might  conceivably  result  in  his  getting 
more  than  you  have.  But  for  heaven's  sake 
and  your  own  soul's  sake  avoid  recommending 
anything  which  you  haven't  tried,  and  beware 
of  even  giving  the  impression  that  you  know 
anything  of  belief  and  spiritual  life  beyond 
what  you  have  personally  experienced.  On 
the  other  hand,  and  equally  for  your  soul's 
sake,  never  hesitate,  when  opportunity  offers, 
to  recommend  what  you  have  experienced. 

Obedience,  Personal  Experience — these  are 
two  compelling  incentives  to  missionary  activ- 
ity. A  third  is  to  be  found  in  a  realization  of 
the  world's  need.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any 
one  can  look  abroad  on  the  world  today  and  be 
satisfied  that  all  is  as  it  should  be  because  all 
is  as  God  wishes  it  to  be.    The  tragedy  of  war 

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The  Church's  Life 

is  in  its  aftermath.  If  people  could  but  realize 
what  misery  follows  in  the  track  of  war,  no 
justifying  cause  for  it  would  be  allowed  as 
sufficient.  Truly  a  "Pentecost  of  Calamity" 
swept  the  world  for  four  years.  Death  robbed 
the  nations  of  millions  of  their  bread-winners, 
and  of  thousands  of  their  leaders  in  all  the 
high  adventures  of  the  human  mind;  the  rav- 
aged fields  were  left  unsown,  and  children  cried 
for  bread  in  vain ;  famine  and  disease  ran  riot, 
and  no  means  were  at  hand  to  check  them ;  the 
wheels  of  industry  moved  slowly,  if  at  all,  for 
lack  of  material;  oppression  arose  in  new  and 
unprecedented  forms;  Christians  had  been 
killed  by  Christians  and  non-Christians  alike 
until  there  were  actually  fewer  men  and  women 
to  carry  on  the  Church's  mission  than  there 
had  been  before  the  war  broke  out.  It  is  true 
that  the  torture  of  the  world  aroused  the  spirit 
of  Christian  sympathy  and  generosity  to  a  de- 
gree far  in  excess  of  anything  that  the  world 
had  ever  before  experienced;  but,  in  so  vast 
a  mass  of  agony  and  despair,  all  that  could  be 
done  in  alleviation  was  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean 
of  human  need.  Yet,  after  all,  the  war  merely 
concentrated,  in  time  and  space,  conditions 
which  had  before  escaped  notice  because  so 
widely  spread.  I  suppose  that  the  poverty, 
and  consequent  suffering,  of  the  common  peo- 
ple in  every  non-Christian  land  is  absolutely 
inconceivable  in  this  rich  land  of  ours  where 
day-labor  receives  thirty  times  what  it  does  in 

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The  Call  to  Intelligence 

China.  To  bitter  poverty  must  be  added  the 
pangs  of  constant  hunger  verging  on  starva- 
tion. When  five  millions  of  people  in  one 
country  starve  to  death  in  a  single  year  in 
India,  the  fact  hardly  attracts  our  notice. 
This,  it  is  true,  was  the  result  of  an  exceptional 
famine-year  in  India;  but  it  is  a  menace  from 
which  the  people  of  Asia  and  Africa  are  never 
free.  It  has  been  stated  that  in  those  lands, 
two  hundred  million  people  go  to  bed  every 
night  hungry,  and  half  that  number  absolutely 
shelterless.  Such  conditions  breed  disease,  es- 
pecially when  accentuated  by  ignorance  and 
disregard  of  the  simplest  laws  of  sanitation 
and  hygiene.  Epidemics  take  their  toll  of  mil- 
lions every  year.  Many  portions  of  Asia  are 
veritable  plague-spots,  and  it  is  only  by  taking 
the  utmost  precautions  that  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica are  kept,  to  a  certain  degree,  immune.  One 
recalls  the  experience  of  a  certain  traveler  who, 
visiting  the  docks  at  San  Francisco,  noted  sev- 
eral tramp  steamers  from  the  Orient  moored 
to  the  dock  by  hempen  hawsers  on  each  of 
which  was  strung  a  tin  disc.  On  inquiring  the 
object  of  the  latter,  he  was  horrified  to  learn 
that  they  were  placed  there  to  prevent  the  rats, 
possible  carriers  of  the  germs  of  bubonic 
plague,  from  crawling  to  the  shore  and  infect- 
ing the  people  of  San  Francisco. 

The  death-rate  in  every  pagan  land  is  simply 
appalling ;  not  merely  the  death-rate  from  dis- 
ease, but  that  due  to  the  passive  neglect  of 

153 


The  Church's  Life 

childhood,  and  the  active  perils  to  which  it  is 
subjected.  "In  most  Oriental  towns  the  death- 
rate  is  estimated  at  over  45  per  1,000.  In 
Bombay,  the  infant  death-rate  was  593  per 
1, 000."  (Quoted  by  Murray,  from  Paget's 
"The  Claim  of  Suffering")  Closely  asso- 
ciated with  this  is  the  degradation  of  woman- 
hood which  is  everywhere  a  characteristic  of 
paganism. 

The  picture  is  a  dark  one.  That  I  grant. 
But  its  colors  are  dark  because  we  Christians 
do  not  will  to  have  them  changed.  The  colors 
which  have  produced  the  somber  picture  are 
ignorance,  immorality,  hopelessness,  fear,  su- 
perstition, the  exploitation  of  the  many  by  the 
few.  And  these  colors  are  the  very  antithesis 
of  those  which  Jesus  Christ  uses;  hence  the 
profound  difference  between  this  picture  and 
the  one  presented  by  every  land  where  His 
Gospel  has  been  applied  in  any  degree  effec- 
tively. Not  for  one  single  day  need  that  pic- 
ture of  the  Orient  remain  as  dark  as  it  is; 
only  our  own  indifference  keeps  it  so.  Nor  is 
there  any  other  reason  for  the  hunger,  the 
misery,  the  want  which  still  mar  the  beauty  of 
our  own  land.  The  smallest  effort  on  our  part 
— even  so  slight  a  one  as  the  merciful  Lord 
illustrates  by  "a  cup  of  cold  water  only" — will 
serve  to  that  extent  to  change  existing  con- 
ditions. 

But  it  is  not  only  physical  need  which  cries 
aloud  for  alleviation  the  world  over.    We  have 

154 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

been  accustomed  to  think  of  our  own  land  as 
one  in  which  illiteracy  was  almost  unknown; 
but  the  war  served  to  shock  us  into  the  discon- 
certing realization  that  four  and  a  half  mil- 
lions of  Americans  over  twenty  years  old  are 
unable  to  read  or  write  any  language  what- 
ever; ten  per  cent  of  the  men  drafted  into 
the  war  were  similarly  handicapped.  Startling 
as  these  facts  are,  the  conditions  in  the  world 
at  large  are  still  more  so.  The  vast  majority 
of  the  world's  population  is  sunk  in  densest 
ignorance.  No  less  than  eighty  per  cent  of 
all  human  beings  can  neither  read  nor  write. 
This  means  stagnation;  for  it  is  a  fact  proved 
by  experience  that  only  in  those  lands  where 
the  written  or  printed  page  is  intelligible  to 
the  majority  of  the  people  have  enlightenment 
and  progress  been  made  possible.  Inability  to 
read  on  the  part  of  the  very  people  to  whom 
the  Church  needs  most  to  minister  hampers 
her  in  the  discharge  of  her  mission ;  for  where 
her  representatives  reach  hundreds  with  the 
spoken  word,  they  might  reach  millions  were 
these  able  to  read  the  written  word.  Illiteracy 
in  a  democracy  is  an  intolerable  menace ;  in  the 
world  at  large  it  is  an  offense  to  the  God  of 
all  wisdom  and  power.  As  literacy  increases 
and  education  advances,  it  becomes  more  and 
more  essential  that  the  latter  be  used  to  reveal 
God;  otherwise  all  that  is  acquired  is  merely 
knowledge;  wisdom  remains  as  far  off  as  ever. 
This  is  the  task  of  the  Church  at  home  and 

155 


The  Church's  Life 

overseas,  for  it  expresses  one  great  need  of 
the  human  race,  which  the  Church  alone  is  able 
adequately  to  supply.  Again  we  must  be 
warned  that  world-wide  ignorance  exists  and 
brings  with  it  its  train  of  misery,  only  because 
we  Christians  are  not  determined  to  have  it 
otherwise.  More  than  this:  We  must  make 
up  our  minds  that  wherever  secular  education 
has  advanced,  there  it  is  our  business  to  see 
that  Christian  education  makes  similar  prog- 
ress. If  Christians  are  content  to  watch  im- 
passively a  pagan  land  in  the  process  of  devel- 
oping a  system  of  education  which  ignores  God, 
then  they  must  be  prepared  to  face  the  inev- 
itable menace.  One  illustration  may  suffice. 
There  can  be  no  question  but  that  Japan,  by 
sheer  force  of  energy  and  by  extraordinary 
adaptability,  has  come  to  occupy  a  position  of 
dominance  in  the  Far  East.  Her  ideals  are 
bound  to  impress  themselves  on  her  neighbors. 
Can  she  be  safely  trusted  with  so  vast  a  respon- 
sibility? Certain  facts  and  figures  recently 
published  indicate  a  negative  answer.  Thus, 
for  example,  a  recent  Japanese  writer  is 
authority  for  the  following:  "It  is  not  any 
exaggeration  to  state  that,  as  regards  the  labor 
condition  of  women,  Japan  maintains  the  worst 
record  known  to  the  civilized  world."  (The 
Japan  Review,  Vol.  IV,  p.  87,  1920.)  Has  this 
any  connection  with  the  fact  that,  while  Japan 
has  developed  a  remarkable  system  of  educa- 
tion, it  is  a  system  having  no  place  for  God  and 

156 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

His  righteousness?  I  think  that  the  connec- 
tion is  a  close  one.  If  so,  the  following  figures 
are  significant.  There  are,  in  the  Imperial 
University  of  Tokyo,  about  live  thousand 
students — men  who  ten  years  hence  will  be 
guiding  the  destinies  of  the  Empire  and  her 
neighbors.  Of  these  5000  young  men,  8  en- 
rolled themselves  as  Shintoists,  50  as  Bud- 
dhists, 60  as  Christians,  1500  as  atheists, 
and  3000  as  agnostics.  In  so  far  as  these  facts 
and  figures  reflect  the  spirit  of  modern  Japan, 
they  indicate  the  desperate  straits  in  which  she 
finds  herself.  Happily,  signs  are  not  wanting 
to  show  that  she  is  beginning  to  realize  her 
need.  She  is  groping  for  a  religion  which  can 
keep  her  straight.  There  was  never  a  time 
when  the  Church  had  a  greater  opportunity  to 
meet  an  educational  need  than  at  the  present 
moment,  and  with  these  eager,  virile  neighbors 
of  ours. 

But  in  thinking  of  the  need  of  pagan  lands 
for  education,  and  Christian  education,  let  us 
not  forget  our  own  portentous  lack  of  the  lat- 
ter. The  teaching  of  Christianity  is  rightly 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Church  rather  than 
in  those  of  the  State;  that  is  not  a  debatable 
question.  But  it  is  a  very  serious  question 
how  the  Church  is  meeting  this  responsibility. 
We  have  discussed  this  in  a  previous  chapter 
and  need  only  emphasize  here  that,  while  the 
proportion  of  Christians  to  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  is  deplorably  small, 

157 


The  Church's  Life 

the  proportion  of  Christians  who  can  give  any 
intelligent  reason  why  they  are  Christians  is 
smaller  still;  while  almost  infinitesimal  is  the 
proportion  of  Episcopalians  who  are  prepared 
to  give  any  adequate,  or  even  self -satis  lying, 
answer  to  the  question,  "Why  are  you  an 
Episcopalian  rather  than  a  Baptist  or  a  Roman 
Catholic  ?"  And  this,  be  it  noted,  not  because 
there  are  no  adequate  answers  or  that  the 
necessary  information  is  not  readily  accessible. 
No !  The  truth  is  that  most  Christians  must  be 
classed  as  religious  illiterates,  and  the  blame 
lies  with  those  of  us  who  are  indifferent  to 
the  world's  intellectual  needs  and  who  have 
not  enabled  the  Church  to  fulfill  her  mission 
to  the  minds  of  men. 

Nor,  again,  are  the  needs  of  the  world  ex- 
pressed merely  in  physical  or  mental  terms. 
Indeed,  these  are  the  least  of  all.  What  the 
world  needs  in  order  to  be  satisfied  is  Jesus 
Christ.  Nothing  less  will  serve.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  any  Christian  man  can  face  with 
equanimity  the  fact  that  out  of  a  world- 
population  of  nearly  seventeen  hundred  mil- 
lion human  souls,  hardly  more  than  one-third 
have  even  received  the  news  of  the  blessings 
of  God's  complete  revelation  of  Himself  in 
Christ,  or  of  their  redemption  by  Him,  After 
twenty  centuries,  during  which  God  has  been 
calling  upon  the  Christian  Church  to  fulfill 
her  mission,  more  than  one  thousand  million 
souls  are  still  awaiting  the  life-bringing  news. 

158 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

I  am  not  unaware  that  there  are  those, 
usually  of  the  kind  that  delight  to  speak  of 
themselves  as  "hard-headed  business  men" 
(too  often  "bone-heads,"  indeed,  regarding  the 
Church's  mission)  who,  while  they  profess  to 
be  Christians,  and  even  Churchmen,  are  yet 
so  callous  to  all  that  Jesus  Christ  has  brought 
to  them  that  they  have  even  succeeded  in  per- 
suading themselves  that  a  partial  revelation  is 
"quite  good  enough  for  the  heathen."  "The 
dim  light  brought  to  the  world  through 
Buddha  or  Confucius  is,"  they  say,  "all  that 
the  Oriental  needs.  He  is  accustomed  to  it ;  it 
has  produced  saints;  why  disturb  him  with 
longings  for  anything  higher?"  Oh,  the  ig- 
norant selfishness  of  such  Christians!  They 
have  simply  never  had  their  eyes  opened  to 
the  fact  that  Christianity  is  not  one  religion 
among  many,  but  rather  the  climax  of  all  re- 
ligion. We  are  on  dangerous  ground  when  we 
allow  ourselves  to  think  of  Judaism,  Moham- 
medanism, Confucianism,  etc.,  as  separate 
"religions" ;  for  we  are  thus  led  to  regard  one 
"religion"  as  inherently  suitable  for  one  nation, 
another  for  another;  and  thereby  we  not  only 
fall  into  error,  but  we  minimize  one  of  the  great 
incentives  to  the  spread  of  Christianity. 

Revelation  is  always  a  progressive  and  de- 
veloping work  of  God.  "The  path  of  the 
righteous  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day"  (Prov. 
4:18).     Always  there  have  been  devout  souls 

159 


The  Church's  Life 

who,  earnestly  seeking  righteousness,  have 
discovered  God.  "In  every  nation  he  that 
feareth  him,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is 
acceptable  to  him"  (Acts  10:35). 

But  while  God  has  thus  been  revealed  dimly 
to  men  of  rare  capacity  in  all  ages  and  lands, 
it  is  as  true  of  pagan  lands  now  as  it  was  in 
the  days  of  Isaiah,  that  "darkness  covers  the 
earth  and  gross  darkness  the  peoples. "  What- 
ever of  high  ideal  and  moral  excellence  has  in 
the  past  attached  to  the  great  ethnic  religions 
in  their  purest  forms,  their  appeal  has  never 
been  to  other  than  the  few;  while,  even  to 
them,  they  have  proved  merely  pointers  of  the 
way,  with  no  divine  power  to  enable  man  to 
reach  the  goal  destined  for  him  of  God.  For 
the  perfect  light  is  Christ.  In  Him  is  the  com- 
plete revelation  of  God,  embracing  all  that 
man  in  his  present  state  can  possibly  conceive 
of  God,  and  capable  of  answering  every  need 
of  every  man  and  of  all  human  relationships 
the  world  over.  "The  gospel/'  writes  Dr. 
Jowett,  "covers  the  whole  bleak  field  of  human 
need.  There  is  no  single  human  necessity 
which  cowers  and  shivers  outside  the  priv- 
ileged pale."  It  is  true  that  a  more  complete 
revelation  still  is  possible.  It  may  be  that 
there  is  yet  to  be  developed  on  earth  a  race  of 
men  with  greater  capacity  to  receive  and  to 
apprehend  God;  it  is  certainly  true  that  a  far 
more  perfect  revealing  of  God  awaits  us  when 
at  last  we  are  relieved  of  the  blinding  burden 

160 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

of  the  flesh  (i  St.  John  3:2;  Rom.  8:18-23;  1 
Cor.  2:9,  10).  But,  for  us  here,  and  for  all 
men  now,  Christ  is  the  one  true  light  which, 
coming  into  the  world,  lighteth  every  man. 
For  Him  wait  the  nations  now  sitting  in  dark- 
ness and  the  shadow  of  death.  By  their  own 
confession,  none  else  can  satisfy  them.  Their 
partial  light  is  failing,  and  now  God  relies  upon 
His  Church  to  rekindle  whatever  of  brightness 
there  was  in  that  light,  and  to  use  it  as  a 
means  of  revealing  to  all,  "the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ/'  We  dare  not  wait;  for  though 
God  may  have  provided  some  way  of  approach 
to  Him  other  than  through  Christ  the  Way; 
some  other  source  of  life  other  than  incor- 
poration in  His  living  Church  through  Bap- 
tism; some  other  means  of  union  with  Him 
other  than  through  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  in 
Confirmation  and  the  constant  power  of  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ — 
though  God  may,  by  His  infinite  grace,  have 
provided  a  means  of  salvation  for  those  who 
seek  righteousness  by  the  light  they  have;  yet 
of  all  this  we  have  no  absolute  assurance  ex- 
cept as  we  trust  in  the  uncovenanted  mercies 
of  God.  Nor  need  these  matters  greatly  con- 
cern us.  Not  the  perils  of  ignorance  and  un- 
belief, but  rather  the  unmeasurable  blessings 
of  faith — these  form  the  message  of  God  to 
man.  The  need  of  the  world  is  desperate;  we 
have  the  means  of  relieving  it,  in  its  every  as- 

161 


The  Church's  Life 

pect.  No  partial  revelation  has  proved  able 
to  stand  the  stress  of  complex  modern  life;  the 
complete  revelation  is  ours  to  give  if  we  will. 
For  us,  and  therefore  for  all,  there  is  but  One 
who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  We 
are  assured  that  nothing  less  than  His  Presence 
can  satisfy  the  insistent  needs  of  men,  because 
that  alone  has  satisfied  ours.  To  see  the  need 
is  to  be  stirred  to  activity,  unless  indeed  we  be 
"dead  to  the  world."  With  pitying  eyes,  Jesus 
Christ  looked  upon  the  multitudes  about  Him. 
He  saw  them  as  sheep  distressed  and  scattered, 
having  no  shepherd  (St.  Matt.  9:36).  But 
mark!  What  He  felt  was  not  mere  pity.  "He 
was  moved  with  compassion  for  them."  There 
is  a  vast  difference  between  pity  and  compas- 
sion. The  former  is  a  natural  human  emotion 
which  we  delight  to  gratify.  We  go  to  the 
theatre  and  see  a  play  depicting  the  pathos  of 
a  young  girl  betrayed.  Tears  spring  to  our 
eyes  for  very  pity,  but  that  is  all;  we  rarely 
leave  the  theatre  determined  to  see  the  reality, 
to  meet  the  need  and  to  remove  the  causes.  So 
with  the  Greeks  of  old.  The  people  of  Athens 
thronged  to  the  great  tragedies  of  /Eschylus 
and  Sophocles;  they  gave  free  rein  to  their 
excited  emotions,  they  were  moved  to  tears; 
but  history  fails  to  tell  us  of  any  case  where 
their  emotionalism  stirred  any  profound  deter- 
mination to  remove  the  causes  of  such  deeds 
as  had  just  excited  their  pity.  Pity  is  a  more 
or   less  pleasurable  emotion;  only  when  the 

162 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

emotion  is  translated  into  terms  of  remedial 
action  can  it  be  termed  mercy  or  compassion. 
Nowhere,  in  the  New  Testament,  are  we  told 
that  God  feels  pity  for  us;  it  is  God's  mercy 
that  we  are  taught  to  pray  for,  and  by  which 
we  benefit  practically. 

When,  therefore,  we  become  intelligently 
alive  to  the  appalling  needs  of  our  neighbor- 
hood, of  our  fellow-citizens  far  or  near,  of  the 
world  groping  for  God  in  the  shadows,  we  dare 
not  be  content  with  pitying.  In  such  a  case 
mere  pity  is  worse  than  useless ;  by  every  means 
in  our  power  we  must,  in  mercy,  try  to  relieve 
the  need.  I  wonder  if  it  is  necessary  to  repeat 
that,  in  these  days,  no  man  has  any  excuse  to 
remain  in  ignorance  of  the  needs  of  the  world 
as  they  are  related  to  the  Church.  They  are 
everywhere  apparent  to  any  man  who  will 
think  or  read.  "Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look!" 
"When  He  saw  the  multitudes,  He  was  moved 
with  compassion  for  them."  Here,  then,  are 
three  mighty  incentives  to  activity  on  the  part 
of  every  loval  Christian :  The  Lord  commands 
us;  experience  constrains  us;  Human  need 
compels  us.  These  motives  should  be  sufficient, 
yet  there  are  other  incentives  which  should  stir 
the  modern  man.  For  example,  there  is  the 
fact  that  the  world  is  contracting  with  startling 
rapidity;  God  is  compressing  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  into  a  neighborhood.  In  our  contacts 
with  nations  once  far  distant,  time  and  space 
are  being  almost  eliminated.     China  is  today 

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The  Church's  Life 

nearer  to  New  York,  even  in  terms  of  travel, 
than  was  New  Orleans  a  hundred  years  ago; 
communication  with  China  is  a  matter  of 
minutes  only.  Every  modern  invention  seems 
aimed  at  making  the  world  smaller,  and  con- 
tacts between  nation  and  nation  more  inevi- 
table. The  very  words  "far"  and  "near"  are 
ceasing  to  have  much  practical  significance  for 
us.  The  Orient  is  perilously  close  when,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  proximity  of  its  diseases  can 
be  measured  in  terms  of  a  tin  disc  eight  inches 
in  diameter  and  a  thirty-second  of  an  inch  thick 
strung  on  a  ship's  hawser  to  prevent  the  swarm- 
ing of  infected  rats. 

With  equal  ease  our  commodities,  good  and 
bad  together,  pass  to  the  Orient;  with  equal 
difficulty — nay,  with  more,  because  ignorant 
of  the  menace — can  the  Orient  protect  itself 
against  our  evils.  It  is  idle  to  say,  as  so  many 
do,  that  the  natives  of  other  lands  should  be 
left  to  their  own  customs  and  "religions." 
Commerce  will  not  have  it  so;  trade  demands 
an  entry.  And  where  commerce  goes,  bearing 
evil  things  as  well  as  good,  there  the  Church 
is  bound  to  follow  if  only  to  counteract  the  one 
and  to  reenforce  the  other.  It  is  not  the 
Church  in  her  mission  overseas  which  is  dis- 
turbing the  placid  calm  of  the  Orient  and 
arousing  a  spirit  of  unrest;  commerce,  with 
her  myriad  hands,  is  touching  and  awakening 
oriental  life  to  countless  new  desires,  and 
among  these  is  the  demand  for  western  learn- 

164 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

ing  which,  to  the  observing  Oriental,  has  given 
to  the  occidental  nations  their  dominion  in 
world  affairs.  The  Church  can  not,  with 
safety  to  herself  or  in  justice  to  the  Orient, 
fail  to  take  advantage  of  the  doors  which  com- 
merce is  flinging  wide  open.  The  rapid  spread 
of  knowledge  in  this  narrowing  world  is  an- 
other powerful  incentive  to  missionary  activ- 
ity. We  know  more  of  central  Africa  today 
than  our  forebears  in  New  England  knew  of 
Colorado.  We  read  at  our  breakfast-table 
events  which  occurred  in  the  Balkans  or  in 
New  Zealand  a  few  hours  previously.  Infor- 
mation regarding  world  needs  from  the  Chris- 
tian standpoint  is  the  easiest  possible  thing  to 
acquire  in  these  days. 

This  knowledge  is  disarming  racial  preju- 
dices and  destroying  illusions.  It  is  utterly 
impossible  today  to  regard  the  Chinese  or  the 
Japanese  as  inferior  races.  If  our  illusions 
with  respect  to  them  are  disappearing,  so  are 
theirs  with  respect  to  us.  On  both  sides  is  a 
growing  recognition  of  common  virtues  as 
well  as  of  common  defects.  One  of  the  tragic 
results  of  mutual  intercourse  between  East  and 
West  has  been  the  utter  disillusionment  which 
has  come  over  young  students  from  China  and 
Japan  when  they  have  seen  the  conditions 
actually  permitted  to  exist  in  this  so-called 
Christian  land  and  have  experienced  the  care- 
less discourtesy  with  which  Christian  people 
have  met  them.    We,  for  our  part,  have  been 

165 


The  Church's  Life 

led  by  our  growing  knowledge  of  oriental  peo- 
ples to  the  conviction  that  in  certain  spiritual 
qualities  they  far  surpass  us.  Indeed  it  seems 
certain  that  Christianity,  given  first  to  an 
oriental  people,  later  transmitted  to  Europe 
and  interpreted  in  forms  of  occidental  thought, 
now  needs  to  be  given  back  again  to  the  Orient 
for  reinterpretation  by  enlightened  oriental 
thought.  However  that  may  be,  the  increas- 
ingly close  physical  contact  between  East  and 
West  is  something  to  be  carefully  noted  in  con- 
sidering the  incentives  to  missionary  activity 
overseas.  No  one,  for  example,  can  measure 
the  effect  upon  the  heathen  mind  of  having 
seen  the  great  Christian  nations  of  the  world 
engaged  in  bitter  war.  The  employment  of 
thousands  of  Chinese  laborers  in  France  dur- 
ing the  war  can  not  fail  to  have  produced,  even 
on  their  dull  minds,  entirely  new  and  extraor- 
dinary impressions — impressions  which  they 
will  have  carried  back  with  them,  for  better  or 
worse,  on  their  return.  They  said  little — these 
ignorant  coolies — but  doubtless  they  did  a  lot 
of  thinking  which  may  yet — who  knows? — 
have  a  vast  influence  in  China's  future. 

Very  dreadful  will  be  the  day  when  that 
nation  of  four  hundred  millions  of  people — a 
Republic  embracing  one-quarter  of  the  world's 
population — fully  arouses  herself  under  the 
goad  of  international  contacts,  if  she  be  al- 
lowed to  note  in  those  relationships,  as  they 
affect  her,  only  the  threat  of  diminishing  boun- 

166 


The  Call  to  Intelligence 

daries,  and  resources  exploited  for  the  benefit 
of  foreigners!  Very  glorious  for  the  world 
will  be  that  day  if  the  Church  is  able  then  to 
show  America  to  China,  not  merely  as  a  shrewd 
purveyor  of  material  goods,  but  as  a  Christian 
people  lifting  up  on  high  the  Christ,  that  so, 
according  to  His  most  sure  promise,  all  men 
may  be  drawn  to  Him  for  the  building  up  of 
His  Body. 

"To  seek  missing  members  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  Christ's  Body" — is  not  this  the  aim  of 
the  Church's  mission;  can  we  not  find  in  this 
objective  our  sufficient  incentive? 


167 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  POWER  IN  THE  CHURCH 

We  considered  in  previous  chapters  the  in- 
centives which  should  stir  Christians  to  mis- 
sionary activity.  Obedience  to  our  Lord's 
commands — obedience  based  on  an  intelligent 
view  of  the  whole  field  and  every  aspect  of  it — 
this  is  a  somewhat  stern  incentive,  but  in  a 
measure  fundamental. 

Careful  thought  upon,  and  deep  appreciation 
of,  the  innumerable  benefits  which  we  our- 
selves have  received  as  members  of  God's 
Family  through  Christ — this  should  be  a 
supreme  and  compelling  incentive.  "We  can- 
not but  speak  the  things  which  we  saw  and 
heard"  must  ever  be  in  the  mind  of  the  Chris- 
tian. The  Methodists  used  to  speak  freely  of 
experiencing  religion.  This  is,  perhaps,  what 
we  Churchmen  need. 

Then  there  is  the  incentive  which  always 
comes  from  an  intelligent  outlook  upon  con- 
ditions in  the  world — the  realization  of  peo- 
ple's desperate  need  of  Jesus  Christ  to  make 
them  children  of  God,  to  give  them  abundant 
life,  to  move  them  to  righteousness,  to  turn 
their  chaos  into  order,  to  establish  among 
them  His  joyous  rule.    There  is  no  conceivable 

168 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

reason  for  the  world's  remaining  in  its  present 
state  a  single  year  longer,  except  the  cruel  and 
faithless  indifference  of  us  Christians.  Pity 
for  those  deprived  of  our  blessings,  mercy  in 
enabling  them  to  share,  this  is  what  is  needed. 
These  are  the  people  for  whom  our  Lord  longed 
— other  sheep,  not  yet  of  His  fold,  but  neces- 
sary to  complete  His  flock.  Yes,  necessary  for 
the  completing  of  His  Church.  Let  us  again 
define  to  ourselves  the  Church's  mission:  "To 
seek  missing  members  of  Christ's  Body." 

We  have  considered,  too,  certain  lesser  in- 
centives— the  decreasing  size  of  the  world 
when  measured  in  terms  of  communication; 
the  closeness  of  international  relationships ;  the 
often  menacing  proximity  of  less  advanced 
peoples;  mutual  disillusionment,  and  mutual 
understandings  as  well,  due  to  our  close  con- 
tacts ;  the  opening  of  new  opportunities  through 
trade;  the  protection  of  the  less  powerful 
against  the  strong — all  these  considerations 
must  inevitably  stir  us  to  activity  if  only  as  a 
means  of  self-protection. 

But  in  order  to  be  active  something  more 
than  incentive  is  necessary.  A  paralytic  may 
have  every  incentive  in  the  world  to  get  up  and 
walk,  and  yet  be  hopelessly  inactive.  What  he 
needs  is  power.  This  is  the  tragedy  of  every 
partial  revelation  of  God — of  all  religions  short 
of  Christianity.  They  may  provide  every  in- 
centive to  righteousness  but  they  leave  their 
votaries  powerless  to  attain  it. 

169 


The  Church's  Life 

Now  this  is  precisely  what  the  early  Church 
had  and  what  the  modern  Church  appears  to 
lack.  The  power  behind  the  missionary  activ- 
ity of  the  Apostles  was  so  enormous  that  what 
they  did  by  means'of  it  seems  miraculous.  It 
was  not  miraculous  in  the  least.  Given  the 
same  source  of  power,  we  could  accomplish 
precisely  the  same  results.  It  is  a  rather  start- 
ling thought  and  worth  investigating.  What, 
then,  was  the  power  behind  the  early  Church 
when  she  began  her  mission? 

So  long  as  our  Lord  was  physically  present 
with  His  disciples,  His  word,  His  example, 
He  Himself,  was  the  power.  He  appoints  the 
Twelve  and  later  the  Seventy;  He  sends  them 
off  to  do  things,  and  somehow  He  and  they 
become  identified,  and  they  find  themselves 
working  with  a  degree  of  power  surprising 
even  to  themselves  (St.  Matt.  10;  St.  Luke 
io;i,  16-20).  I  suppose  that  it  is  quite  im- 
possible for  us  to  put  ourselves  in  their  place 
and  realize  what  they  must  have  felt.  They 
had  never  dreamed  of  anything  like  it  in  their 
lives.  They  had  seen  Him — their  Master — 
heal  sick  people;  but  it  is  doubtful  if,  as  yet, 
they  had  seen  any  signs  of  His  greater  power; 
and,  anyhow,  He  was  the  Lord  and  Master, 
they  merely  the  humble  friends  and  admirers; 
what  reason  had  they  to  suppose  that  they, 
poor  stupid  disciples,  could  ever  be  able  to 
exercise  the  smallest  fraction  of  His  power! 
But  they  started  off  at  His  command,  and  they 

170 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

tried  what  He  told  them  to  try;  and,  to  their 
astounded  joy,  they  found  that  His  power  had 
actually  become  theirs,  and  that  they  could 
duplicate  what,  with  curious  awe,  they  had 
seen  Him  do.  Peculiarly  vicious  or  stubborn 
cases  did  baffle  them  at  times.  We  recall  one 
such  case  especially  (St.  Mark  9 114-20).  They 
had  been  left  alone  for  a  time,  even  Peter  and 
James  and  John  had  gone  up  into  the  hills  with 
their  Master,  and  a  very  gruesome  case  of  deaf 
and  dumb  epilepsy  had  been  brought  to  them. 
Moreover,  the  disease  was  of  long  standing, 
and,  at  the  moment,  was  in  terrifying  activity. 
The  very  sight  of  the  boy  in  convulsions,  wal- 
lowing in  the  dirt  and  foaming  at  the  mouth, 
unnerved  them.  They  felt  that  here  was  a 
horror  which  no  power  could  reach,  certainly 
not  theirs.  Then  the  Master  came,  and,  after 
deliberately  inquiring  into  the  matter,  calmly 
gave  the  needed  relief,  and  went  home  followed 
by  the  crestfallen  disciples.  ''Why  could  not 
we  cast  it  out?"  they  ask;  and  He  assures  them 
that  the  failure  is  entirely  in  themselves.  More 
earnest  prayer,  more  undoubting  faith — that 
was  all  they  lacked.  One  can  imagine  them, 
after  that,  clinging  to  Him  more  eagerly  than 
ever,  unwilling  to  be  separated  for  a  moment 
from  the  source  of  their  power.  How  abso- 
lutely inconceivable  to  them,  then,  must  have 
been  the  strange  statement  with  which  He  an- 
nounced His  approaching  departure  (St.  John 
16:7).    He  was  preparing  to  leave  them ;  never 

171 


The  Church's  Life 

again  would  they  look  into  His  face,  or  hear 
His  words,  or  feel  His  hands  in  blessing,  or 
see  His  power  working  through  them — all  this 
was  intolerable  even  to  think  of.  Expedient — 
better — for  them?  Preposterous!  Yet  He 
had  just  said  it.  Why?  What  comfort  could 
be  theirs  if  He  were  to  leave  them ;  what  power 
could  they  possibly  find  except  in  His  presence? 
Well,  He  tells  them.  "If  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter — the  Helper — will  not  come  unto 
you;  but  if  I  go,  I  will  send  him  unto  you"  (St 
John  16:7).  It  is  doubtful  if  they  had  any  idea 
what  He  meant,  or  if  they  recalled  another  of 
His  sayings,  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
He  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also;  and  greater  works  shall  he 
do;  because  I  go  unto  the  Father"  (St.  John 
14:12).  But  to  us  His  meaning  is  plain. 
Abundant  compensation  for  the  withdrawal  of 
our  Lord's  physical  presence  from  His  disci- 
ples was  to  be  found  in  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Comforter  and  Strengthener.  He 
was  to  be  their  new  source  of  strength ;  it  was 
through  His  power  that  they  were  to  do  even 
greater  things  than  their  Master  had  done. 
Our  Lord  could  not,  in  His  physical  body,  be 
with  His  disciples  always  in  all  places ;  but  He 
would  send  to  them  a  spiritual  Presence,  no 
less  real  and  personal  than  He  had  been,  but 
able  to  be  with  them  for  ever  (St.  John  14:16). 
It  was  indeed  expedient  for  them  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  should  come  to  carry  on  and  bring  to  its 

172  ' 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

final  goal  the  work  which  Christ  had  begun 
in  His  disciples  during  His  earthly  life.  It 
would  be  well  worth  our  while  to  read  again 
carefully  the  fourteenth  and  sixteenth  chap- 
ters of  St.  John's  Gospel  in  order  to  realize 
just  what  our  Lord  guarantees  that  the  blessed 
Spirit  shall  do  in  and  through  those  who  re- 
ceive Him  and  allow  Him  to  dwell  in  them. 
The  urgent  need  of  His  presence  will  thus 
become  evident,  for  He  alone  can  bring  home 
to  the  world  a  sense  of  its  sinfulness  apart 
from  Christ,  of  its  redemption  through  Christ, 
and  of  the  defeat  of  evil  by  Christ  (St.  John 
16 :8-io) .  It  is  only  through  His  teaching  that 
we  learn  the  truth  about  Christ  and  become 
able  to  interpret  His  teaching  aright  (St.  John 
16:13). 

But  just  here  a  word  of  caution  is  necessary. 
We  must  remember  that  truth  is  too  big  for 
any  one  man  to  grasp  wholly.  There  is  no 
promise  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  reveal  all 
truth  to  men  singly.  It  was  to  the  whole  body 
of  the  disciples  united  that  our  Lord  gave  the 
promise,  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free"  (St.  John  8:32). 
The  whole  round  of  truth  is  for  the  whole  body 
of  the  Church.  Paul  had  received  a  measure 
of  truth,  so  had  Apollos,  so  had  Cephas;  but 
if  their  respective  followers  imagined  that  to 
each  had  been  revealed  the  whole  truth,  or  if 
others  fancied  that  they  alone  had  the  truth 
as  Christ  embodied  it,  the  result  could  be  only 

173 


The  Church's  Life 

endless  contentions  and  divisions  (i  Cor. 
1:11,  12).  It  is  in  the  whole  united  body  of 
baptized  believers  that  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
dwells;  in  His  communion  and  fellowship  the 
truth  is  made  known. 

It  is  in  the  person  of  the  blessed  Spirit  that 
God  abides  in  us  with  power.  He  it  is  who 
teaches  us  and  bears  witness  to  Christ  in  us 
and  through  us  (St.  John  15:26).  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  Life — "the  Giver  of  Life"  as  we 
assert  in  the  Creed — by  Whom  we  are  made 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death  (Rom. 
8:2) — free  to  serve  God.  On  His  assurance 
alone  we  hold  fast  to  the  fact  that  God  can 
make  men  His  children — adopting  them  into 
His  Family  (Rom.  8:15,  16).  Above  all,  He 
comes  to  give  us  power  in  God's  service.  "Ye 
shall  receive  power,  when  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
come  upon  you,"  said  our  Lord,  "and  ye  shall 
be  my  witnesses  .  .  .  unto  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth"  (Acts  1:8).  As  has  been  said 
before,  the  remainder  of  the  book  is  no  more 
than  a  record  of  how  that  power  was  applied. 

No  sooner  had  the  Holy  Ghost  given  sign  of 
His  presence  with  the  Church  on  the  Day  of 
Pentecost  than  the  Apostles  began  to  show  evi- 
dence of  a  vital  transformation.  Less  than 
two  months  ago,  in  that  same  city  of  Jerusalem, 
they  had  seen  their  Master  done  to  death  with- 
out venturing  a  word  of  protest;  two  only  had 
dared  to  be  present  at  His  trial,  and  one  of 
these  had  denied  Him  openly  through  sheer 

174 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

cowardice;  even  after  His  Resurrection,  they 
were  found  trembling  in  an  upper  room  for 
fear  of  the  Jews.  But  look  at  them  now !  It 
is  Peter  himself — the  faint-hearted  denier  of 
his  Lord — who  takes  the  lead  in  publicly  de- 
nouncing the  members  of  the  dreaded  San- 
hedrin  as  "men  without  the  law,"  in  that  they 
had  crucified  a  man  approved  of  God.  A  few 
days  later  Peter  and  John  face  the  same  mob 
which  had  before  demanded  the  death  of  the 
Righteous  One,  and  plead  the  power  of  His 
Name;  and  the  next  day,  standing  trial  before 
the  very  judges  who  had  condemned  the  Christ, 
it  is  Peter  who  tells  them  with  biting  scorn 
that  it  was  their  Messiah  whom  they  had  cruci- 
fied; adding  that  in  Him  alone  are  salvation 
and  power.  What  has  happened  to  Peter? 
Simply  this,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  come 
upon  him,  and  has  transformed  Simon  the 
trembler  into  Peter  the  rock. 

But  in  the  great  sweep  of  the  Church's 
progress,  one  dominant  figure  stands  out — 
the  greatest  miracle  of  all.  Note  him — Saul, 
the  cultivated  gentleman  of  Tarsus,  aristo- 
cratic, learned,  intolerant,  bigoted,  implacable 
— as  his  cold  eyes  watch  the  brutal  murder  of 
Stephen,  the  Christian  witness.  See  him  as 
he  pursues  his  relentless  way  to  Damascus  to 
crush  out  the  hated  sect.  Then  listen  to  Paul, 
the  slave  of  Jesus  Christ,  counting  all  his  past 
as  worthless  if  he  can  only  gain  Christ;  fast- 
ening eager  eyes  on  the  prize  of  the  high 

175 


The  Church's  Life 

calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus ;  glorying  in  his 
very  infirmities  that  the  grace  of  God  may  be 
more  evident  in  him;  suffering  all  things  for 
the  Gospel's  sake,  and,  in  utter  humility,  seeing 
himself  at  last  as  the  chief  of  sinners  in  the 
growing  light  of  the  vision  of  God  (Phil.  3: 
7-11 ;  13,  14;  11  Cor.  12:9,  10;  1  Tim.  1 115). 

Again,  recall  how  blind  to  their  Lord's  real 
nature  and  mission  these  first  Apostles  had 
been  a  few  weeks  previously;  how  ambitious 
and  self-assertive;  how  regardless  and  forget- 
ful of  His  teaching;  how  slow  to  understand 
and  to  believe  His  promises.  Now,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  see  with  perfect  clearness  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  very  Christ  of  God; 
that  death  could  never,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  have  had  dominion  over  Him ;  that  He 
is  the  ever-living  Saviour  of  the  world. 

And  then  these  astonishing  men  proceed  to 
form  a  brotherhood  among  themselves  on  lines 
unknown  to  the  world  before — a  brotherhood 
in  which  each  offers  what  he  can  for  the  good 
of  all,  and  in  whose  membership  there  are  none 
who  strive  which  should  be  the  greatest  (Acts 
4:32-35).  Whence  came  the  sudden  enlight- 
enment, this  new  spirit  of  love?  Surely  from 
none  other  than  the  Holy  Ghost,  bringing  to 
their  remembrance  all  that  their  Master  had 
said  to  them,  and  taught  them. 

Note,  too,  how  simply  these  men  who,  not 
so  many  months  before,  had  been  puzzled  to 
know  how  really  to  pray,  now  turn  to  God  in 

176 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

their  specific  need  and  draw  down  power  from 
on  high  (Acts  4:24-31).  Boldness,  enlight- 
enment, the  power  of  prayer — these  were  the 
gifts  of  Him  who  had  now  come  to  take  the 
Christ's  place  on  earth,  to  abide  forever  with 
the  Church,  and  to  enable  her  to  fulfill  her 
mission. 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  power  was  mani- 
fested in  extraordinary  ways;  the  birthday  of 
the  Church  was  celebrated  strikingly.  By  the 
grace  of  the  blessed  Spirit — though  just  how, 
we  can  not  be  sure — people  of  various  tongues 
were  enabled  to  receive  the  initial  message ;  the 
Apostles  were  able  to  deliver  their  message 
with  results  never  attained  even  by  our  Lord 
Himself;  thousands  responded  to  the  message; 
the  sick  were  cured;  the  lame  were  made  to 
walk;  even  the  dead  were  raised.  Threatened, 
the  Church  prays;  and  again  the  Spirit  is 
poured  out  upon  her  in  power  and  a  sense  of 
unity  and  brotherhood.  Falseness  within  the 
blessed  community  is  recognized  as  a  sin 
against  the  Spirit  and  is  punished  accordingly 
(Acts  5:  3  and  9).  He  is  the  joint-witness, 
with  the  Apostles,  to  the  saving  power  of 
Christ,  the  Messiah  (Acts  5:32).  He  it  is 
who  fills  St.  Stephen  with  wisdom  and  power 
so  that  none  can  withstand  him.  "Ye  stiff- 
necked  and  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears," 
he  thunders,  when  all  his  pleading  eloquence 
has  proved  unavailing,  "ye  do  always  resist 
the  Holy  Ghost" ;  and  then  He  whom  they  had 

177 


The  Church's  Life 

resisted  gives  to  His  servant  the  supreme  re- 
ward of  steadfastness — the  vision  of  his  Lord 
in  glory  (Acts  7:55). 

Now  take  the  Book  of  Acts  and  follow  the 
rushing  course  of  the  Spirit.* 

The  disciples  are  driven  out  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  Church  is  scattered;  but  the  presence 
of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  remains  with  her. 
Philip,  the  deacon,  goes  down  to  Samaria — the 
Lord's  own  foreign  mission  field — and  there 
he  preaches  and  baptizes  and  heals.  Word 
goes  back  to  the  Apostles  that  the  Samaritans 
are  now  baptized  and  prepared  to  receive  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  the  leaders  hasten  down  to 
fulfill  their  office,  laying  their  hands  upon  them 
in  Confirmation.  So  in  every  phase  of  Church 
extension,  the  Spirit  demands  His  share. 
Philip  is  further  made  His  instrument  for 
planting  the  Church  in  Africa.  He  drives 
Peter,  the  ultra-conservative  Jew,  to  see  the 
needs  of  Gentiles  and  to  respond  to  them.  (No 
"foreign  mission"  of  modern  times  demands  a 
more  utter  laying  aside  of  prejudice  than  did 
this.)  He  orders  the  Church  of  Antioch  to 
select  Saul  and  to  send  him,  accompanied  by 
Barnabas,  on  a  great  adventure  all  planned  by 
Him  beforehand. 

No  less  interested  is  He  in  the  practice  of 
the  Church  than  in  its  extension.  The  mes- 
sage from  the  council  of  the  Church  in  Jeru- 

*Acts   VIII:   5-8,    14-17,  27-39;   X;   XIII:    1-3;   XV:   28; 
XVI:  6-10;  XIX:  5,  6;  XX:  22,  23;  XXI:  11. 

178 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

salem  regarding  the  great  rite  of  circumcision 
in  its  application  to  converts  bears  the  impri- 
matur of  the  Holy  Ghost;  the  matter  has  been 
decided  by  Him  in  council  with  the  Church. 

From  Antioch,  St.  Paul,  this  time  with  Silas 
as  his  companion,  starts  on  his  second  journey 
intending  to  cover  central  Asia  Minor.  No 
thought  of  Europe  has  apparently  entered  his 
mind.  He  plans  to  go  as  far  north  as  the 
Euxine  Sea,  passing  through  the  Roman  prov- 
ince of  Asia;  but  the  Holy  Ghost  forbids  him 
to  preach  there.  Bithynia — the  most  northerly 
province — perhaps  that  is  the  goal !  No !  The 
Spirit  forbids  that.  Where  then?  What  is 
the  meaning  of  this  constant  upsetting  of 
plans?  Hastening  westward,  the  Apostle  fin- 
ally comes  to  the  narrow  sea  separating  Asia 
from  Europe.  There  at  Troas — close  to  mem- 
orable Troy — the  objective  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  at  last  made  plain  in  the  vision  of  the  man 
of  Macedonia,  the  cry  of  Europe — "Come  over 
and  help  us."  Here,  too,  it  seems  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  provided  for  St.  Paul  the 
much-needed  friend  and  physician  in  the  per- 
son of  St.  Luke. 

On  his  third  journey,  St.  Paul  comes  to 
Ephesus,  and  here,  upon  a  few  uninstructed 
disciples,  the  Holy  Ghost  comes  with  power 
through  the  laying  on  of  Apostolic  hands,  and 
the  new-born  Church  of  Ephesus  is  estab- 
lished. On  his  journey  home,  it  is  the  Holy 
Ghost  who  warns  him  of  what  he  yet  has  to 

179 


The  Church's  Life 

suffer  in  order  that  the  Church  may  reach 
farther  and  farther  still.  And,  finally,  it  is  the 
plan  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  His  servant  shall 
be  delivered  over  to  his  enemies  in  Jerusalem, 
that  so  at  last  the  Gospel  shall  reach  Rome — 
the  center  of  the  civilized  world. 

Such  was  the  irresistible  course  of  the 
Church  under  the  mighty  driving  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Very  fittingly  are  the  recorded 
sayings  of  the  Second  Person  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity  during  His  ministry  on  earth  imme- 
diately followed  by  the  recorded  doings  of  the 
Third  Person  of  the  Trinity  who  now  abides 
with  and  in  His  Church — the  Body  of  Christ. 

Now  let  us  go  back  for  a  moment  and  see 
how  and  where  the  impetus  to  missionary  activ- 
ity started.  Turning  to  St.  Luke  24:47,  we 
find  that  it  was  our  Lord's  will  that  the  Church 
should  begin  to  fulfill  her  mission  in  Jerusalem, 
and  that  the  disciples,  instead  of  returning  to 
their  homes  to  begin  work,  should  stay  where 
they  were  and  await  further  events.  There 
were  doubtless  many  reasons  why  the  work 
was  to  begin  in  Jerusalem.  It  was  always 
God's  will  that  His  message  should  be  delivered 
to  the  Jews  first  of  all.  Jerusalem  was  the 
center  of  Judaism,  and  the  present  opportunity 
was  quite  unique.  During  Llis  annual — pos- 
sibly more  frequent — visits  there,  the  Prophet 
of  Nazareth  had  become  a  familiar  figure  in 
the  city ;  His  teaching  and  His  claims  had  been 
such  as  to  arouse  popular  interest ;  during  the 

180 


.    The  Power  in  the  Church 

week  preceding  the  last  Passover  of  His  life, 
He  was  probably  the  most-talked-of  man  in 
town.  When  the  Apostles  later  addressed 
great  crowds  and  spoke  of  "Jesus  °f  Naz- 
areth," every  one  in  the  crowd  knew  whom 
they  were  talking  about,  and  was  familiar  with 
the  tragedy  of  the  past  few  days.  Being  Jews, 
they  were  also  able  to  understand  the  interpre- 
tation of  those  events  as  set  forth  by  such  men 
as  St.  Peter  and,  later,  St.  Stephen.  Moreover, 
the  Passover  and  the  Feast  of  Pentecost  had 
brought  to  Jerusalem  a  great  concourse  of 
Jews  from  many  regions.  It  was  an  extraor- 
dinarily cosmopolitan  crowd  that  faced  St. 
Peter  when  he  made  his  first  announcement 
on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  (Acts  2  :g-i  1 ) .  Rep- 
resentatives of  no  less  than  fifteen  countries 
distributed  over  three  continents  received 'the 
first  message  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
opportunity  was  unprecedented,  for  most  of 
those  visitors  to  Jerusalem  were  returning 
home  presently  and  could  not  fail  to  talk  of 
those  things  which  had  so  deeply  impressed 
them. 

Again  it  was  in  Jerusalem,  or  its  immediate 
neighborhood,  that  the  events  upon  which  St. 
Peter  based  his  message  had  recently  occurred, 
and,  as  has  been  said,  every  one  present  was 
familiar  with  them. 

Then,  too,  it  was  the  severest  possible  test 
of  their  new-found  courage,  for  the  Apostles 
to  be  required  to  testify  to  Christ  before  the 

181 


The  Church's  Life 

very  people  who  had  rejected  Him  a  couple  of 
months  before,  and  had  condemned  Him  to  the 
shame  and  horror  of  crucifixion  as  a  common 
malefactor.  It  would  have  been  far  easier  for 
them  to  have  returned  quietly  to  Galilee,  and 
there,  among  those  who  still  cherished  the 
memory  of  His  gracious  Presence,  spread  the 
good  news  of  life  in  His  name;  but  God  would 
not  have  it  so. 

Was  there  no  further  reason  for  beginning 
at  Jerusalem?  I  remember  putting  this  ques- 
tion once  to  a  group  of  students,  who  there- 
upon proceeded  to  search  for  some  abstruse 
reason.  Having  at  last  dug  up  and  announced 
those  given  above,  profound  silence  ensued 
until  one  youngster  remarked  quietly,  "Wasn't 
it,  perhaps,  because  it  was  where  they  hap- 
pened to  be  at  the  time?"  Of  course;  but,  as 
so  often  is  the  case  in  Bible  study,  it  was  the 
obvious  which  had  escaped  notice. 

This  reason  always  holds  good.  It  is  seldom 
advisable,  and  more  rarely  is  it  necessary,  for 
a  man  to  look  far  afield  for  his  opportunity  to 
bear  witness  to  Christ  and  the  new  life  by 
example  and  word.  God  put  him  where  he  is, 
and  the  chances  are  that  just  where  he  is  is  the 
place  where  God  means  him  to  begin  his  activ- 
ities. This  applies  to  the  man  not  only  when 
he  is  at  home,  but  wherever  he  happens  to  be 
at  the  moment.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  not  one 
of  the  Apostles  lived  at  Jerusalem;  they  were 
there   only   temporarily.     So   with    Saul    and 

182 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

Barnabas.  One  of  them  lived  at  Tarsus,  the 
other  on  the  island  of  Cyprus;  but  they  were 
both  at  Antioch  when  they  began  their  joint 
work.  In  Saul's  case,  he  had  gone  to  Damas- 
cus at  first  with  no  intention  whatever  of 
preaching  Christ — far  from  it.  But  when  he 
got  there,  "straightway  in  the  synagogues  he 
proclaimed  Jesus,  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God." 

Now  turn  back  once  more  to  our  Lord's 
command  as  recorded  by  St.  Luke.  The  King 
James  version  gives  the  wording,  "beginning 
at  Jerusalem" ;  but  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the 
Revised  Version  alters  it  to,  "beginning  from 
Jerusalem."  The  change  of  a  preposition 
seems  a  slight  matter ;  but  the  propulsive  force 
of  the  command  is  thereby  immensely  in- 
creased. The  Church  had  no  excuse  for  re- 
maining indefinitely  in  Jerusalem,  whatever 
the  need  or  however  great  the  success.  She 
had  her  source  at  Jerusalem,  but  she  could  no 
more  be  wholesomely  and  usefully  confined 
there  than  can  a  stream  be  dammed  up  at  its 
source  without  becoming  a  stagnant  and  force- 
less pool.  So  the  Church,  impelled  and  guided 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  bursting  all  barriers, 
flowed  forth  on  her  world-wide  mission. 

The  result  is  astounding.  At  the  period 
when  the  Book  of  Acts  opens,  the  Roman  Em- 
pire embraced  an  area  of  two  million  square 
miles  (two-thirds  the  size  of  the  United 
States) ;  it  contained  upwards  of  four  thou- 
sand cities;  it  included  a  population  of  one 

183 


The  Church's  Life 

hundred  million,  of  all  peoples  and  tongues. 
The  Church  was  composed  of  about  five  hun- 
dred persons  (Cf.  i  Cor.  15:5-6),  most  of  them 
ignorant  and  poor ;  their  means  of  travel  were 
limited;  their  message  had  to  be  delivered  al- 
most entirely  by  word  of  mouth;  the  revela- 
tion of  God  which  they  had  received  and  which 
they  endeavored  to  pass  on  to  others  had  been 
given  in  terms  which  were  offensive  to  the 
religious  Jew,  a  scorn  and  derision  to  the  cul- 
tured Greek,  and  intolerable  to  the  governing 
Roman.  Yet  in  two  centuries  and  a  half 
Christ,  through  His  Church,  had  conquered 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine  in  A.  D.  312  made  Christianity  the 
accepted  religion  of  the  civilized  world.  Of 
all  miracles,  this  is  the  greatest.  How  was  it 
accomplished  ?  Simply  enough.  Every  Chris- 
tian was  a  missionary;  the  whole  Church  was 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  power.  The 
blessed  Spirit  eagerly  desired  that  the  message 
from  the  Father  through  the  Son  should  be 
proclaimed  in  every  corner  of  the  earth  and  to 
every  child  of  man.  The  holy,  blessed  and 
glorious  Trinity  is  interested  in  missions. 

What  stupor  has  come  over  the  Church  to- 
day? Since  that  great  Pentecost  which  sig- 
nalizes her  birth,  nearly  twenty  centuries  have 
passed;  yet  two-thirds  of  the  whole  earth's 
population  are  today  without  Christ,  millions 
of  them  never  having  even  heard  His  name. 
How  many  in  your  own  neighborhood  are  in  a 

184 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

like  pitiable  case?  I  have  no  doubt  but  that 
every  one,  if  he  so  desires,  can  find  a  multitude 
of  plausible  reasons  for  the  striking  contrast 
between  the  first  three  centuries  and  the  fol- 
lowing seventeen;  but  the  fact  remains  that, 
during  the  former  period,  the  Church  con- 
ducted successfully  a  campaign  of  enormous 
proportions,  and  this,  with  comparatively  no 
facilities  within  her  reach;  while,  during  the 
latter  period,  with  every  facility  increasingly 
at  hand,  the  Church  militant  wins  only  local 
victories,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  field,  barely 
holds  her  own. 

To  my  mind,  there  are  two  fundamental 
causes  of  this  state  of  things:  First,  the  dele- 
gation to  certain  chosen  individuals  among  us, 
of  the  glorious  opportunity  provided  for  every 
one  of  us ;  secondly,  the  disregard  of  God,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  the  sole  motive  power  in  our- 
selves and  in  the  Church  at  large.  Unless 
these  two  defects  can  be  remedied,  and  until 
they  are,  the  Church  will  remain  sluggish  and 
ineffectual,  requiring  to  be  prodded  and  goaded 
along  the  path  of  her  high  calling  by  "drives" 
and  "campaigns"  and  devices  of  all  sorts,  which 
can  do  little  more  than  galvanize  her  into  a 
fleeting  semblance  of  life.  The  Holy  Spirit 
comes  as  a  guest  where  He  is  invited ;  He  stays 
so  long  as  the  need  of  Him  is  recognized;  He 
abides  forever  where  He  is  forever  welcomed; 
He  leaves  the  dwelling  where  His  presence  is 
politely  ignored.    It  may  be  mere  coincidence, 

185 


The  Church's  Life 

it  may  be  a  hint  of  a  profound  truth,  but  in 
any  case,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  two 
Christian  bodies  which  have  been  the  greatest 
missionary  influences  in  the  world,  before  and 
since  the  Reformation — the  Roman  Catholics 
and  the  Methodists — are  also  those  which  lay 
most  stress  upon  the  presence  and  office  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  One  would  almost  conclude  that 
God  is  willing  to  overlook  aberrations  in  mat- 
ters of  faith  and  order  within  His  Church,  if 
only  her  members  recognize  the  one  Source  of 
Power  and  draw  upon  Him  eagerly  for  the 
accomplishment  of  His  purpose  in  the  world. 
For  in  things  pertaining  to  faith  and  order, 
supremely  important  though  they  be,  He  can 
overrule  man's  errors;  but  in  matters  which 
involve  man's  will  to  see  and  to  obey,  He  can 
do  little  so  long  as  He  leaves  man  the  free 
agent  which  He  has  made  Him. 

It  is  interesting  to  us  Churchmen  to  recall 
that  in  the  whole  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
there  are  but  three  prayers  addressed  directly 
to  God  the  Holy  Ghost:  The  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus  in  the  Ordinal;  the  prayer  beginning, 
"O  God,  Holy  Ghost,  Sanctifier  of  the  faith- 
ful," in  the  rarely-heard  Office  of  Institution 
of  Ministers,  and  the  brief  address  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Litany.  It  is  true  that  three  days 
in  the  Church's  year  are  devoted  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  but  how  little  is  made  of  them!  It  is 
surely  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  proposal  has 
recently  been  made  to  change  the  name  of 

186 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

Whitsunday  to  Pentecost,  and  of  Trinity  Sun- 
day to  "The  First  Sunday  after  Pentecost, 
commonly  called  Trinity  Sunday,"  and  to  num- 
ber the  succeeding  Sundays,  not  after  Trinity, 
as  at  present,  but  after  Pentecost.  Should 
this  change  be  effected,  the  mind  of  the  Church 
will  be  directed,  for  half  of  the  year,  to  the 
presence  and  work  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 

A  book  which  deservedly  excited  wide- 
spread interest  a  few  years  ago  was  Allen's 
Missionary  Methods,  St.  Paul's  or  Ours.  We 
are  often  so  at  our  wits'  ends  to  devise  methods 
of  stirring  up  the  Church,  and  are,  withal,  so 
obsessed  with  the  idea  that  modern  methods 
are  the  only  practical  ones,  that  we  are  apt 
to  forget  that  the  things  of  God  are  governed 
by  different  laws  than  those  of  man,  and  are 
not  amenable  to  the  same  treatment.  It  is 
possible  that  the  methods  by  which  the  Church 
was  extended  during  the  first  century  were 
better  than  those  pursued  in  the  twentieth. 
Anyhow,  the  results  were  so  far  superior,  that 
both  are  worth  considering  as  a  possible  case 
of  cause  and  effect.  Let  us  therefore  compare 
the  Church  of  the  first  century  with  that  of 
the  twentieth,  in  these  respects. 

(i)  In  the  first  place,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  most  Christians  were,  in  those  early  days, 
tremendously  conscious  of  the  new  life  into 
which  they  had  been  born,  and  they  were  cor- 
respondingly eager  to  transmit  it  without  de- 
lay.   They  went  far  and  fast.    Much  of  their 

187 


The  Church's  Life 

most  important  work  is  unknown  and  unre- 
corded. There  were  Christians  in  Damascus 
before  Saul  of  Tarsus  arrived  there;  he  was 
the  first  of  the  Apostles  to  reach  Rome,  yet 
he  found  the  Church  already  there ;  in  Britain 
and  Gaul  there  were  Churches  long  before  we 
have  any  record  of  a  mission  to  those  countries. 
Who  founded  these  Churches  ?  No  one  knows 
with  certainty;  we  can  only  conjecture  that  the 
zeal  of  some  humble  disciples  knew  no  limits. 
No  religious  activity  in  modern  times  is  com- 
parable with  this,  except  that  of  the  Moham- 
medan. He  prays  without  ceasing;  he  is  a 
propagandist  everywhere  and  always. 

(2)  Then  there  was  the  constant  telling  of 
the  good  news  by  those  to  whom  it  meant 
everything.  Today  we  hire  certain  people  to 
preach  to  us,  and  occasionally  send  some  one 
on  our  behalf  to  preach  to  others  at  a  distance; 
but  among  ourselves  Jesus  Christ  is  a  person 
to  be  spoken  of  only  with  bated  breath,  and 
our  experiences  of  Him  only  in  the  strictest 
moderation  and  privacy.  A  dumb  spirit  seems 
to  possess  us — the  kind  of  spirit  which  our 
Lord  drove  out  of  people.  The  "Gift  of 
tongues"  was,  at  the  outset,  a  powerful  help 
and  witness,  but  surely  less  so  than  the  in- 
numerable translations  of  the  Bible  into  nearly 
every  tongue  known  to  man  today,  and  the 
increasing  preponderance  of  certain  languages 
the  world  over.  The  difficulties  of  a  confusion 
of  tongues,  such  as  rendered  extraordinary 

188 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

measures  necessary,  are  almost  done  away 
with  today.  An  American  can  preach  to  a 
Chinese  through  the  proxy  of  the  printed  page. 

(3)  Undoubtedly  absolute  unity  of  purpose 
and  organization  within  the  early  Church 
helped  her  incalculably.  At  least,  this  unity 
gave  to  the  Holy  Spirit  an  opportunity  to  be 
heard.  The  Body  of  Christ  today  is  torn  into 
innumerable  fragments;  unity  of  aim  is  prac- 
tically lacking,  unity  of  organization  largely 
so.  Not  since  the  ninth  century  has  the  voice 
of  the  Spirit  been  heard  in  a  united  Church; 
amid  the  babel  of  modern  sects  it  is  hopeless 
to  expect  Him  to  be  heard  intelligibly.  With 
all  its  good  results,  the  Reformation  opened 
the  way  for  further  division.  Congregation- 
alism arose  in  1568  as  a  schism  from  the 
Church  of  England;  the  Presbyterians  became 
a  separate  body  a  generation  later;  then  fol- 
lowed the  Baptists  in  1633,  and  the  Methodists 
in  1784.  Since  then,  the  divisions  have  sub- 
divided and  the  process  has  been  fast  and 
furious.  Even  the  three  great  divisions  which 
have  retained  the  Faith  and  Order  of  the  prim- 
itive Church  are  at  odds  between  themselves. 
Not  until  the  whole  Church  is  once  more  at 
unity  within  herself  will  the  authoritative 
voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  again  heard  in  full 
measure  and  unmistakably. 

(4)  The  great  bond  of  union  in  the  early 
Church  was  the  Holy  Communion,  duly  ad- 
ministered and  rightly  received  at  least  once 

189 


The  Church's  Life 

a  week.  By  this,  the  members  of  the  Church 
were  made  one  body  in  Christ,  and  acted  as 
one  body  with  manifold  functions.  They  were 
baptized  into  life,  endued  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
through  the  laying  on  of  apostolic  hands,  fed 
by  Christ  with  His  body  and  blood.  How 
could  they  have  been  other  than  a  mighty  body  ? 
With  good  reason  has  the  Church  always  asso- 
ciated Baptism  and  Confirmation  and  the  Holy 
Communion  as  steps  in  a  continuous  process; 
for  the  life  received  in  Baptism  is  empowered 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Confirmation  and  main- 
tained by  ever-renewed  union  with  the  living 
Christ  in  His  blessed  Sacrament. 

To  speak  of  a  baptized  person's  "joining 
the  Church"  in  later  life  is  to  misunderstand 
the  meaning  and  effect  of  Baptism.  It  is  true 
that  at  Confirmation  the  baptismal  vows  are 
personally  reaffirmed,  but  the  essence  of  the 
rite  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the 
laying  on  of  hands  by  the  Bishop,  that  so  the 
confirmed  person  may  have  grace  and  power 
to  keep  his  vows.  Then  follows  the  Holy  Com- 
munion through  which  he  is  kept  in  union  with 
Jesus  Christ.  All  three  are  steps  in  the  normal 
development  of  the  child  of  God,  from  his  birth 
into  the  Family,  until  he  attains  "unto  a  full- 
grown  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ"  (Eph.  4:13).  In- 
deed, in  the  Eastern  Orthodox  Church,  Bap- 
tism is  immediately  followed  by  the  rite  which 
corresponds  to  Confirmation,  the  latter  being 

190 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

properly  regarded  as  the  completion  of  the 
former. 

As  yet  no  lesser  forms  of  common  worship 
had  developed.  For  many  years  the  Jewish 
Christians  maintained  their  connection  with 
the  synagogue,  and  joined  in  the  Sabbath  ob- 
servances; and  it  was  only  very  much  later, 
when  the  Christian  Church  had  finally  parted 
with  Judaism  and  had  established  its  own  dis- 
tinctive places  for  Christian  worship,  that 
there  developed  also  distinctive  forms  of  Chris- 
tian worship  other  than  the  Eucharist.  These 
originated  as  informal  meetings  for  prayer, 
largely  composed  of  devout  women,  held  either 
in  private  houses  or  in  the  churches.  The 
leadership  of  these  meetings  gradually  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  and  with  the  rise 
of  monasticism,  the  prayers  and  reading  of 
psalms,  etc.,  became  crystallized  into  the  form 
of  definite  offices  which,  with  certain  variations 
in  different  localities  and  with  general  conden- 
sation, were  used  daily  in  the  monastic  estab- 
lishments at  certain  fixed  hours :  Matins  (mid- 
night), Lands  (sunrise),  Prime  (6  a.  m.), 
Terce  (9  a.  m.),  Sext  (noon),  None  (3  p.  m.), 
Vespers  (sunset),  and  Compline  (9  p.  m.). 
This  was  the  basis  of  the  Roman  Breviary, 
and  it  was  selected  portions  of  the  latter  which 
were  used  in  compiling  the  Daily  Offices 
(Morning  and  Evening  Prayer)  in  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer. 

Meantime  the  Sunday  worship,  connected 
191 


The  Church's  Life 

exclusively  with  the  Holy  Communion,  also 
became  crystallized  into  definite  form,  and  was 
known  as  the  Liturgy.  The  precise  form 
which  the  Liturgy  took  varied  somewhat  in 
different  localities,  so  that  scholars  today  rec- 
ognize six  main  groups  of  ancient  liturgies, 
four  Eastern  in  origin  and  use,  two  Western. 
The  latter  (the  Roman  and  the  Gallican),  re- 
vised and  combined  in  the  eleventh  century  by 
the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  was  known  as  the 
Saram  (Salisbury)  Use,  and  is  practically  the 
Liturgy  as  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  The  origin  of  the  other  portions  of 
the  Prayer-book  is  a  less  important  matter. 
The  interesting  point  is  that  not  only  have  the 
Daily  Offices  of  the  monks  come  to  be  regarded 
by  us  as  the  proper  Services  for  Sundays,  but, 
rather  generally,  they  have  been  allowed  to 
supplant  the  Service  which,  in  the  early  Church, 
was  regarded  as  the  special  glory  of  the  Lord's 
Day;  with  the  indirect  result  that  many  lay 
people  prepare  themselves  and  are  content  to 
receive  the  Holy  Communion  only  once  a 
month,  or  possibly  only  once  a  year.  I  am  not 
arguing  either  one  way  or  the  other;  but  it  is 
surely  important  for  us  to  note  that,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  early  Church — which  was,  in  all 
her  members,  a  mighty  missionary  witness  and 
force — did  lay  great  stress  upon  the  Holy  Com- 
munion as  the  Sacrament  of  the  union  of  her 
members  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  modern  Church 

192 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

tends  to  substitute  other  forms  of  Sunday  wor- 
ship and  fellowship,  and  is  a  disrupted  and  in- 
effective missionary  witness  and  power,  espe- 
cially when  working  under  conditions  which 
demand  primarily  the  welding,  teaching  and 
witnessing  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  i.  e.,  in 
the  foreign  field. 

(5)  That  "miracles"  of  healing  were  a  con- 
stant witness  to  the  power  of  Christ  in  the 
early  Church,  and  that  they  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  her  missionary  effectiveness  can 
not  be  questioned.  That  they  occupy  no  such 
position  in  the  Church  at  large  today  is  equally 
evident.  Either  Jesus  Christ  is  dead,  or  He 
has  lost  His  power,  or  men  have  lost  their 
faith  in  Him,  or  God  has  substituted  some 
other  healing  agency.  We  have  discussed  this 
matter  in  a  previous  chapter;  it  is  only  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  add  that  while  the  great 
advance  in  knowledge  regarding  the  human 
body,  and  in  medical  and  surgical  skill,  is  un- 
questionably according  to  the  purpose  of  God, 
yet  the  practice  of  healing  based  on  this  can 
be  regarded  only  as  a  supplementary  means. 
It  is  foolish  to  argue  that  God  has  delegated 
His  healing  powrer  to  agents  who  generally  dis- 
regard lis  cooperation.  This  w^ould  be  most 
unlike  Him.  When  the  medical  profession 
comes  universally  to  believe  in  and  to  seek  the 
action  of  God,  through  His  chosen  agents,  and 
when  it  recognizes  all  material  means  of  heal- 
ing as  merely  supplementary  to  that  action  and 

193 


The  Church's  Life 

in  their  nature  sacramental,  it  will  then  be  time 
to  argue  that  "miracles"  of  healing  are  no 
longer  necessary  as  a  testimony  to  our  Lord's 
power.  But  when  that  time  comes,  such  works 
will  no  longer  appear  "miraculous,"  since  they 
will  be  recognized  as  the  normal  action  of  our 
blessed  Lord  in  and  through  His  Church.  This 
is  a  missionary  method  in  respect  to  which  the 
modern  Church  has  deviated  enormously  from 
primitive  practice. 

Such  seem  to  me  the  principal  methods  ap- 
plied of  old  by  the  Church  in  the  fulfillment  of 
her  mission  in  the  world.  It  may  be  that  we 
shall  find,  in  our  own  deviation  from,  or 
abandonment  of,  them,  a  cause  of  the  Church's 
present  comparative  lack  of  success. 

There  are  features  of  the  early  Church 
which  have  a  further  bearing  on  this  matter, 
but  which  may  be  reviewed  more  hurriedly, 
either  because  they  are  duplicated  today,  or 
because  they  were  evidently  consequent  upon 
more  important  features. 

(6)  The  association  with  the  Apostles  of 
other  duly  ordained  men,  thus  forming  a  three- 
fold ministry  of  a  sacramental  nature  for  the 
transmission  of  sacramental  grace,  was  a 
prominent  mark  of  the  early  undivided  Church, 
and  continues  today  to  distinguish  those  com- 
munions which,  together,  embrace  by  far  the 
largest  proportion  of  Christians.  These  are 
the  Roman,  the  Greek  and  the  Anglican 
Churches.     The  case  is  somewhat  analogous 

194 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

to  a  national  army  which  consists  of  regular 
troops  with  officers  trained  and  commissioned 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Government,  but 
which  may  be  supplemented  by  irregular  troops 
of  various  degrees  of  training  and  under  dis- 
cipline variously  administered.  These  irregu- 
lar troops  may  do  admirable  service;  under 
certain  conditions  they  may  be  more  effective 
than  the  regulars;  and  they  certainly  fight  in 
the  same  cause  and  under  the  same  oath  of 
allegiance.  They  are  parts  of  the  army,  but 
not  of  the  regular  army,  that  is,  of  an  army 
permanently  organized  according  to  duly  au- 
thorized and  established  usage  and  discipline. 
(7)  In  the  early  Church,  efficiency  was  also 
obtained  by  apportioning  among  the  members 
various  kinds  of  work  to  be  done  according  to 
the  ability  of  each  (see  Acts  2:42;  1  Cor. 
12:8-11,  28-29;  Eph.  4:11-12).  We  have  de- 
parted far  from  this  ideal.  The  third  order  of 
the  ministry  has,  in  the  Anglican  communion, 
become  practically  limited  to  those  few  who 
find  in  it  merely  a  necessary  stepping-stone  to 
the  priesthood ;  the  perpetual  diaconate  is  tend- 
ing to  become  a  grace  descending  in  the  female 
line  only.  The  rector  of  a  parish  is  supposed 
to  be  at  once  a  priest,  a  preacher,  a  pastor,  a 
parish  visitor,  a  teacher,  and  a  financial  man- 
ager ;  while,  meantime,  there  lies  at  hand  inert, 
unaroused  and  unused,  a  vast  accumulation  of 
lay  energy  which  the  few  existing  organiza- 
tions barely  touch. 

195 


The  Church's  Life 

(8)  As  rapidly  as  the  Gospel  entered  new 
fields  and  won  adherents,  the  latter  were  at 
once  organized  into  autonomous  Churches  (not 
"denominations"),  each  in  active  union  with 
the  Church  at  large  through  their  local  Bishops, 
and  bound  together  by  sacramental  ties.  Pres- 
ently these  Churches  became  themselves  cen- 
ters of  missionary  activity,  and  so  the  Church 
grew  in  orderly  fashion,  and  the  voice  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  could  be  heard  in  her  councils. 
It  would  seem  that  only  as  the  whole  Church 
Catholic — "the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful 
people" — wills  to  return  to  the  Faith  and  Order 
of  primitive  times,  can  she  recover  her  mis- 
sionary zeal  and  duplicate  her  early  victories. 

(9)  Among  the  Churches  so  organized,  the 
Apostles  and  their  companions  made  frequent 
visitations;  often  letters  had  to  take  the  place 
of  visits,  but  into  these  letters  the  Apostles 
poured  their  souls,  directing,  admonishing, 
praising,  warning,  encouraging,  threatening. 
Surely  much  more  might  be  made  today  of 
epistles  addressed  by  our  Bishops  to  groups 
of  Churches  of  whom  God  has  made  them  over- 
seers. 

(10)  Finally,  the  method  of  the  early 
Church  was  for  every  member  to  contribute 
money  liberally  and  gladly  in  order  that  the 
Word  of  God  might  be  free  to  spread  through- 
out the  world.  They  prayed  for  and  cultivated 
this  grace;  therefore  they  gave  to  the  utmost 
limit  of  their  ability  and  beyond  it,  placing  no 

196 


The  Power  in  the  Church 

petty  obligation  of  tithing  as  their  bounds. 
They  gave  spontaneously,  cheerfully  deliber- 
ately. They  rivalled  one  another  in  their  giv- 
ing; money  given  appeared  a  safe  investment; 
it  was  an  expression  of  their  unbounded  grati- 
tude as  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord — sacramental 
indeed — the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an 
inward  and  spiritual  grace.  And  they  thus 
gave  because  they  first  gave  their  own  selves 
unto  the  Lord"  (see  n  Cor.  8  and  9).  A  com- 
parison between  early  and  modern  practice  in 
this  regard  is  tragic. 


So  we  bring  to  a  close  our  study  of  the  great- 
est cause  on  earth — the  mission  of  God's 
Church.  We  have  tried  to  see  in  it  the  pas- 
sionate longing  of  God's  heart  for  the  sons  of 
men.  We  have  considered  the  appealing  mes- 
sage, and  the  all-sufficient  power  of  it.  We 
have  seen  the  Christ  stand  watching  in  pity 
the  desperate  needs  of  mankind,  and  in  active 
mercy  satisfying  those  needs  through  the 
power  of  His  own  abundant  life.  We  have 
followed  His  beloved  community  as  it  set 
forth,  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to 
fulfill  its  divine  mission  of  embodying  the 
Blessed  One,  perpetuating  His  life  on  earth, 
bearing:  His  sacramental  grace  to  every  hungry 
and  thirsty  soul,  and  baptizing  the  nations  into 
the  Family  of  God.  We  have  seen  the  results 
attending  that  mission;  and  we  have  noted 

197 


The  Church's  Life 

carefully  the  methods  pursued,  in  order  that 
we  might  see  wherein  our  own  are  defective. 
It  will  be  of  the  utmost  value  if  we  have  come 
to  see  clearly  that  the  objective  of  the  Church's 
Mission  is  to  give  to  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  this  fair  land  of  ours  an  opportunity 
to  share  in  a  more  abundant  life  for  body, 
mind  and  soul;  and,  further,  to  establish  in 
every  land  and  among  all  peoples  an  organized, 
autonomous,  self-supporting  and  missionary 
branch  of  God's  One  Holy,  Catholic  and  Apos- 
tolic Church.  To  this  end  God  calls  us  "to 
present  our  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
acceptable  to  God,  which  is  our  reasonable 
service;  .  .  .  that  we  may  prove  what  is  the 
good  and  acceptable  and  perfect  will  of  God" 
(Rom.  12:1,  2). 


[the  end] 


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198 


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